The pure joy of scoring a goal will make any footballer celebrate with his teammates or fans or sometimes with his coach. However, some players tend to cause controversy with their celebrations.

Some players make a controversial gesture, some players taunt opposition fans after scoring, while some just make inappropriate gestures after scoring.

Famous players have their signature celebrations.

Cristiano Ronaldo is known for his celebration style, players like Edinson Cavani, Daniel Sturridge, Erling Haaland all have their signature celebrations.

So, who is this player that got banned for life from his national team and what kind of Goal celebration did he do? Well, find out below.

The Player

Giorgos Katidis.

Katidis is a Greek footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. Katidis last played for FK Pirbham in the 2018/19 season.

The Celebration and Incident

Katidis was playing for AEK Athens against Veria on the 16th of March 2013, when he scored the winning goal for his team. To celebrate the goal, Katidis took off his jersey and raised his hand to perform a very political and controversial salute.

Katidis gave a Nazi Salute when he was celebrating his winning goal against Veria in 2013 and that sparked international media condemnation.

Many politicians in his country were not impressed with what Katidis had done.

Info: The Nazi Salute was used by Adolf Hitler followers to salute him.

Description: The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the neck into the air with a straightened hand. Usually, the person offering the salute would say “Heil Hitler!”

Source: Wikipedia

When Katidis was interviewed about his celebration, he claimed that he was just dedicating his goal to a colleagues in the stands, and that he didn’t know what the gesture meant.

Giorgos Katidis’s coach at the time also stated that the player knew nothing about politics.

After the incident, the Hellenic Football Federation (Greek Football Federation) voted unanimously to ban Giorgos Katidis from all National Teams for life. The midfielder was also fined €50,000.

Katidis took it too far by celebrating in the way that he did in 2013. Football player occasionally copy eachother’s celebration style, but no one will want to repeat what Katidis did in 2013.