Vasilis Hatzipanagis
Vassilis Hatzipanagis (Greek: Βασίλης Χατζηπαναγής; born October 26, 1954 in Tashkent in Uzbekistan today ) is a former Soviet and Greek football player on the outside left.
Life
The son of Greek political refugees in the USSR since the age of 12 players in the football academy of Pachtakor Tashkent; From there, he advanced into the first team at 16. To be allowed to accumulate in the highest Soviet league, he first had to apply for Soviet citizenship, which he did under pressure from the Pachtakor officials. At age 17, he made his professional debut and was soon appointed to the U19 national team of the USSR; thereafter, he played eight times for the national team, including games were in the qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in 1976. He then moved back to the home of his parents, although coach Konstantin Beskow he certified that he was " far beyond the Greek level " would be. In the Soviet League, which he left it, he was, however, as the best player after the great Oleg Blokhin.
Hatzipanagis signed in 1975 Iraklis Saloniki from Thessaloniki. He was so well known that the Stadium of Veria ( Iraklis more there because of a stadium ban off) sold out in his first game on December 7, 1975. As a result, he had offers from clubs such as Lazio, FC Arsenal, FC Porto and VfB Stuttgart, but he never left Iraklis, which caused his great attachment to the fans especially. Also the club feared the consequences of a sale. For these reasons played Hatzipanagis still the same club when he played his final game in the UEFA Cup match against FC Valencia at 19.09.1990, shortly before his 36th birthday. In the league he had adopted since the previous year. Another highlight in Hatzipanagis ' career was his only game on May 6, 1976 a friendly against Poland (1-0 ). He subsequently learned, however, that he was not eligible to play for the Greek Association, as he had already played for the USSR. The second mentioned in his profile international game he played long after his career was over, on 14.12.1999 when he was allowed to occur for 22 minutes in the friendly match in his honor against Ghana ( 1-1). In addition Hatzipanagis received several awards, such as the appointment in a world selection (including with Beckenbauer and Magath ), which occurred on 22.06.1984 against New York Cosmos and the choice of the Golden Player of Greece for fifty years UEFA Jubilee. He expressed his pride to have been not been forgotten; the same time he gave his expressed regret that he had played only once for Greece and never in western leagues.
His nickname, " Nureyev of football ", because of its excellent technology, he owed the well-known journalist and Iraklis fan Giorgos Lianis. If he sees defenders, so Hatzipanagis, he wanted to play around all of them. The press wrote about him, he could even dribble his opponent in a phone booth. One anecdote once threatened several Greek defender, Hatzipanagis to sue because "he made us out on the field an idiot, and we wanted revenge ." Also Hatzipanagis holds the national record of direct outside from the corner from - nine in total! From Greeks who witnessed his games at the time, he is still seen as on a par with superstars like Pele or Maradona, which is also confirmed by the fact that he was elected with 18 years as the second best player of the strong Soviet League; the reason that he is barely known outside of Greece today is that he played for most of his life in a mediocre club in a fairly weak league.