Born in Agios Pavlos, Thessaloniki, Koudas began playing football for PAOK where he made his first-team debut in December 1963, aged 17.

[3] During the summer of 1966, Olympiacos legally acquired Koudas from PAOK, approaching him directly without going into a negotiation with his club.

PAOK president Giorgos Pantelakis never gave his consent for the transfer to be completed and for the next two seasons, Koudas participated only in Olympiacos friendly games.

In the summer of 1968, after the intervention of the military junta of Athens, he returned to PAOK and led the great team of the 1970s to glorious days.

[4] Koudas became the inspiration for a popular song by the Greek songwriter and PAOK supporter Nikos Papazoglou and lyricist Manolis Rasoulis.