AEK Athens's Giorgos Katidis claims he was only signaling a friend in the crowd

Mar 18, 2013 12:08 GMT  ·  By
Giorgos Katidis is kicked off Greek soccer team, banned for life from playing over Nazi salute
   Giorgos Katidis is kicked off Greek soccer team, banned for life from playing over Nazi salute

Greek soccer player Giorgos Katidis is the recipient a life-long ban from ever playing again, both in his country and outside it, over a gesture made after scoring a goal.

During Saturday's AEK Athens – Veria match, Katidis used a Nazi salute after the goal, raising his right hand and facing the crowd.

The Greek football federation banned him over the insulting manner in which he chose to show his excitement, pointing out that he proved disrespectful towards "all the victims of Nazi bestiality."

According to The Independent, the 20-year-old Athens midfielder claimed that he wasn't aware of the fact that the salute was used by Nazi troops, adding that he was just trying to get the attention of a friend sitting in the spectator stand.

"I am not a fascist and would not have done it if I had known what it meant," he writes on Twitter.

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