A young Greek footballer has been banned from all levels of international football after celebrating a goal with what appears to be a fascist salute.

Giorgos Katidis, the 20-year-old AEK Athens midfielder, made the offending gesture after scoring his side's winning goal in a 2-1 win against Veria yesterday.

After an internet backlash the player - a former captain of Greece's under-19 side - insisted he was simply pointing at a team mate in the stands, and tweeted: "I am not a fascist and would not have done it if I had known what it meant."

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The Greek football federation called it "a severe provocation" that insulted "all the victims of Nazi bestiality".

The incident has added significance because of the rise of the country's neo-fascist Golden Dawn party, which now has 18 seats in Greece's 300-seat parliament. They have also been blamed for rising anti-immigrant violence across the country.

The club have asked Katidis to explain himself at a board meeting next week. But AEK's German coach Ewald Lienen told Reuters: "He is a young kid who does not have any political ideas. He most likely saw such a salute on the internet or somewhere else and did it without knowing what it means."