Panagiotis Kone

Panagiotis Kone (Παναγιώτης Κονέ, born 26 July 1987) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

He is the current executive director of AEK Athens.

Kone started playing football in the youth ranks of Olympiacos, from where he moved to Lens' youth team.

He wore the number 10 shirt for the 2005–06 season as an 18-year-old, but with the arrival of former Ballon d'Or winner Rivaldo, he changed it to 22.

He started professional football in AEK Athens before moving to Iraklis in 2008.

After two seasons with the club, Kone moved to Serie A club Brescia.

Kone moved to Iraklis in 2008 after he was surplus to requirements at AEK.

In his two seasons with the club, he made 49 league appearances and scored eight goals; in 37 of these matches, he either played as a substitute or he was substituted.

Although in times he showed football brilliance, the facts that he was rather unstable and the lack of teamwork could not secure him a firm place in Iraklis' starting eleven.

Kone represented Greece at various youth levels before making his senior debut in 2010.

In July 2010, Kone trained with Italian side Brescia despite still being under contract with Iraklis.

After this became known to Brescia, Kone no longer trained with the club.

He requested and expected to have his contract with Iraklis terminated due to supposed debt by the club to him, but on 22 July 2010, the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) decided against the request.

Nonetheless, Iraklis sold him to Brescia for a €800,000 transfer fee.

In July 2010, Kone made an attempt to play for a club outside the Greek borders, signing with Brescia Calcio ahead of the 2010–11 Serie B season.

He put in some impressive performances, catching the eye of club management with his technical training, fast pace and strong sense of goal.

Following Brescia's relegation after finishing 19th in 2010–11, however, he signed with Bologna on loan for the 2011–12 season, with an option to make the loan permanent.

Kone initially arrived at Bologna on a temporary basis as a replacement for the recently departed Francesco Della Rocca, who had moved to Palermo.

After one season in Brescia, he moved to Bologna in 2011 on loan, then transferred permanently to the club in 2012.

In June 2013, Bologna officially reached a deal to buy-out Brescia's 50 percent ownership of Kone for a €1.6 million fee.

At the time, he was co-owned by the two clubs.

Prior to the deal, negotiations between the two had been troubled and there were fears the matter would go to a blind auction over the summer of 2013.

On 24 November 2013, Kone scored his first goal of the 2013–14 season in a 1–1 home draw against Internazionale, finding the net in the 12th minute.

He then signed for Udinese in 2014.

He was a member of the Greece squad that played in the 2014 World Cup.

He was born as Gjergji Kone in Tirana, Albania, and migrated to Greece with his parents Isaac, a biologist, and Leontina, a piano teacher, and older brother to Athens when he was two years old.

He changed his name to Panagiotis as part of the naturalisation process.

He has said, regarding his identity and ethnicity, that he is a Greek.

Some of his relatives still live in Albania and whenever he visits the country, he presents himself as “Kone the Albanian” in order to prevent discrimination.

His brother, Sotiris, owns a bar in Athens.

According to Albanian and Italian press he is of Albanian origin, while he has stated that his family is ethnically Greek despite coming from Albania.

In the penultimate matchday on 11 May 2014, Bologna, after a 1–2 home loss to Catania, were relegated to Serie B.

After the defeat, 300 Bologna fans surrounded the squad and prevented them from reaching manager Davide Ballardini, instead screaming for contracts to be torn up over a cordon of riot police.

Captain Kone—as one of a few players to emerge from the season with any value at all—was consoled by a supporter after breaking down in tears in the melee.

Kone began his youth career at the Olympiacos youth academy as a young teenager, but moved to France just before his 17th birthday when Lens showed interest in him.

He was sold to Lens for €400,000.

After one year with Lens, Kone came back to Greece to join AEK Athens, signing his first professional contract.

Shortly after the deal, Kone extended his contract with Bologna until June 2017.

The Greek attacking midfielder has made his name in Italy with some truly spectacular goals, notably a scissor-kick volley against Napoli last season at the Stadio San Paolo which gave his side all three points in a 2–3 away victory.

After loan spells with Fiorentina, Granada and AEK Athens, Kone left Udinese in August 2018.