Vasilis Hadzipanagis Soviet and Greek football player, midfielder and striker. Date of Birth: 26.10.1954 Country: Greece

Biography of Vasilis Hadzipanagis

Vasilis Hadzipanagis was a Soviet and Greek football player, known for his skills as a midfielder and forward. He was born into a family of Greek political immigrants. Hadzipanagis began his career playing for the Tashkent-based club, "Pakhtakor". In order to be eligible to play in the top league of the Soviet Union, he acquired Soviet citizenship.

After making his debut for "Pakhtakor", Hadzipanagis was invited to join the Soviet Union youth national team. Although he was called up to the senior national team, he did not play any matches for them. In 1975, he played four matches and scored one goal in the qualifying tournament for the 1976 Olympic Games as part of the Olympic national team.

On November 22 of the same year, Hadzipanagis arrived in Thessaloniki, where he began playing for "Iraklis". His first match for the club took place on December 7, 1975, and his last match was on October 26, 1991, in a UEFA Cup match against "Valencia" on his 37th birthday.

On May 6, 1976, Hadzipanagis played for the Greek national team in a friendly match against the Polish national team. He later claimed that he could not continue playing for the Greek national team due to his appearances for the Soviet Union youth teams. In June 1984, he played for the World team alongside Franz Beckenbauer, Mario Kempes, and Kevin Keegan in a match against the "New York Cosmos" team.

In November 2003, Hadzipanagis was recognized by the Greek Football Federation as the best Greek football player of the last half-century. During the award ceremony, Hadzipanagis expressed regret that he had only played one match for the national team and hadn't competed in a stronger championship.