Heidelberg coach George Katsakis said it hasn't cost the club a cent because Katsouranis, a UEFA Euro 2004 winner, is doing it for nothing.
"He's doing it to give something back to the Greek community," Katsakis said.
He didn't ask for money?
"No, nothing at all, absolutely zero," Katsakis said.
"Obviously we're paying for flights and accommodation, but that's it. He's got his personal trainer with him, he travels with him, so he's here with Kostas. It's absolutely not a cent, believe it or not."
Katsakis said 36-year-old Katsouranis was looking at the FFA Cup tie as being his last game before he retired after a fantastic career in senior football spread over 20 years.
Katsouranis has made more than 600 career appearances for Panachaiki, AKE Athens, enfica, Panathinaikos, PAOK, Pune City and Atromitos. He also won 116 caps for the Greece national team between 2002 and last year.
Katsouranis's retirement plans won't stop Katsakis, the rest of the club and the Greek community in Melbourne from trying to convince Katsouranis to return for the semi-finals if Heidelberg, which plays in the NPL Victoria competition, can pull off an upset win against A-League side Melbourne City.
And regardlesss, Katsakis is also keen to try to talk Katsouranis into returning for a full season with the club in the NPL next year.
"Yeah, that's something we're discussing with him, but first he's here to do a job in this game and once he has done that we'll determine where we'll go from there," Katsakis said.
"Let's try and get over this hurdle tonight first. It's premature to talk about anything beyond that. Let's see what the result is.
"His plan is that this is his last game and he wants to be remembered for this game. Who's to know what's to happen once we come away from that? If we get a result and we try to convince him to come back, who knows? He might agree!"
Heidelberg was able to get Katsouranis to Australia because some of the club's board members have close ties with the player's agent.
Katsouranis arrived in Melbourne last Wednesday and trained with the team on Thursday, Saturday and last night.
"He's over his jet-lag, he has gotten right into the thick of things here and he's looking forward to the game," Katsakis said.
"We've looked after him, absolutely. We're very easy-going people here. We've tried to make him feel at home. We've given him a good insight into the Greek community here and what it's about. He has met a lot of people.
"The community has embraced him and he's excited to represent part of Greece in this game."
Katsouranis is renowned for his adaptability as a player, which allows him to be either a more defensive midfielder or operate further forward, depending on the opposition and situation.
Katsouranis will certainly play through the middle, and Katsakis was optimistic his football brain would carry him through the 90 minutes, and maybe more, despite a lack of recent competitive football.
Katsakis also said the Heidelberg players were thriving on the opportunity to play alongside Katsouranis.
"They're loving it, absolutely loving it," he said. "His class, no doubt, is something we strongly believe in, but more importantly I think the players around him will rise to the occasion. I think their confidence has lifted enormously, with Kostas being here."
4,000 tickets had been pre-sold, as of yesterday, for the match against Melbourne City. Heidelberg's home ground, Olympic Village, seats holds 12,000 and the expectation is that 8,000 to 10,000 will pack the ground as it looks to pull off one of the great upsets.
For Katsakis himself, coaching Katsouranis for the past few sessions has been the highlight of his coaching career to date.
"It is the highlight of my coaching career, I must say, and I've had a fairly good one, a successful one," Katsakis said.
"But this is something else. It's an honour to have someone like him playing under you and I'm certainly enjoying the moment, let me tell you."
But can Heidelberg pull off a shock win?
"We're the underdogs and we're treating it that way," Katsakis said. "We're not getting ahead of ourselves. We'll have to be at our absolute best and they'll probably have to be at their worst for us to get a result.
"We're humble people down here, we believe in reality, but while there are two teams on the park anything is possible. We'll stick to our plan and play to our strengths and see what happens. We'll be giving it our best shot."
