Panagiotis Kone (, 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 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. After one season in Brescia, he moved to Bologna in 2011 on loan, then transferred permanently to the club in 2012. He then signed for Udinese in 2014. After loan spells with Fiorentina, Granada and AEK Athens, Kone left Udinese in August 2018. Kone represented Greece at various youth levels before making his senior debut in 2010. He was a member of the Greece squad that played in the 2014 World Cup. Early life 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. 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. Club career AEK Athens After one year with Lens, Kone came back to Greece to join AEK Athens, signing his first professional contract. 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. Iraklis 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