The Greek Maradona | The Best Player You've Never Heard Of

Known by many as the “Maradona of the Balkans”, Vasilis Hatzipanagis, is widely considered to be the best Greek player of the last 50 years. Born to Greek political refugees to the USSR in October 1954 and after playing 3 seasons in Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan), he moved in Greece after a lot of paperwork in 1975 for the club of Iraklis, Thessaloniki. Due to visa issues, Vasilis only played one match outside of Greece against Valencia, however for Iraklis fans, he is a legend.

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[VasilisL]

Vasilis Hatzipanagis was the G.O.A.T. in the Greek Football History.

[Rosario_Verano]

Also, in 1984 he was invited to the World XI among the biggest players of that time.

[blasterskv]

As a sport fan, i feel embarased that i've never heard about this fantastic player up untill now. Thanks to this channel. Greets from Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸

[panos]

He holds a record of 6 goals directly from the corner kick.(most in Europe)

[irthamepali]

Literally every greek fan can agree that Hatzipanagis was the best

[wrobi]

It's a strange world. How could I never heard of him? A hidden diamond, somewhere in Greece, with all respect to this country.

[miralex]

If a player like him existed today he would be sold 100m

[tasosk.]

Hatzipanagis wasn't the Greek was the Argentinian Hatzipanagis 😂
RESPECT FROM AN ARIS FAN
(Edit: RIP Diego Armando Maradona🙏🏻)

[rickyjonathan]

Yes Vasilis Hatzipanagis was fantistic player. I have met him in Thessaloniki four years ago. He is very good person.

[JogaSportivo]

He really was special. Unfortunately he only played in Greece. If he had the opportunity to play in Europe's big leagues he would have been well recognised.

[epicusdoomicusdelirius]

More than one of the best players to ever play the game, Vasia has a golden heart. His sincere kindness brings tears in my eyes every time i see an interview of his. Outmost respect from a Panathinaikos fan!

[dimitriostsekouras]

I'm a Panathinaikos fan, I still remember him at the early 80s, to magnetised all of us, and to make us think how much higher can get our team with this guy in our team.
Definitely one of the top players in history of world football.

[Dimitris_]

They did a survey 5 years ago at the biggest sports site in Greece for the biggest Greek footballer in history, Vasia (that's his nickname) took 70%+ of the votes. He was filling up the stadium in every match. His biggest accomplishemnts were a 6-0 win against Panathinaikos (Panathinaikos was a powerhouse at the 80s), the victory against Olympiakos at the Greek Cup final (the game went to penalties after a 4-4 draw, it could be nice to search for the highlights) and the fact that he scored 9 direct corner kicks. His trademark move was the multidribbles at the corner area. There were two diffenders that were injured their backs due to his dribbles. The player was an unlucky fenomenon, his teammates didn't deserve him.

[THTS]

ΑΕΚ fan here. This guy was something else, Greece has never seen anything like him! A truly unstoppable dribbler, excellent finisher but also a magnificent passer. He was humiliating his opponents week in week out. It s a pity he couldnt get a transfer abroad so the whole world could witness his talent

[liakosantoniadis]

Σεβασμός για τον Νουρέγιεφ της μπάλλας που αν έπαιζε σε κάποιο άλλο πρωτάθλημα σίγουρα θα είχε μεγαλύτερη προβολή ( RESPECT απο έναν ΑΡΕΙΑΝΟ )

[Gnr]

Much love from a cypriot turk who loves greek football what a gem he was and they talk about maradona messi etc etc this guy was one of a kind much love to all my greek friends

[HARDAOREDGE]

Exquisite...and such a nice and humble guy

[emirares]

So sad that we couldn't know about him and watch him.. Greetings and respect from Turkey, one of the legendary players of Fenerbahce is Lefter Kucukandonyadis also a Greek, there's a statue of Lefter near the Fenerbahce stadium in İstanbul, did you know that?. He was a true legend, amazing skillful player, hundreds of goals he scored.. I wanted to meet with him but sadly he died 7 years ago at 85. I only visited his grave...

[billypapa]

To give an example, lets say, Athens mid 80's: AEK Stadium (or Panathinaikos or Olympiacos) AEK - Aris 12.000 spectators. AEK - Panahaiki 7.000. AEK - Iraklis 20.000 Even supporters of other teams would attend the game just to watch HIM. The same goes for every other home team playing vs Iraklis. The sad part of the story is that Iraklis was an average team - historic club but average team - and sometimes it was laughable and frustrating at the same time to marvel of Vassia (his nickname) to dribble two of three sorry mates, pass the ball through the eye of the needle for a teammate just for him to miss in front of the post. The directors of the club was too afraid of the supporters reaction in case of selling him, not to Greece's big three but to European clubs, so he remained tied to Iraklis for all his career. His only honor was a single Greek Cup, but this guy deserved to have lifted the Champions League trophy (then, European Cup) playing for some great club.


The other sad story was that the then strict FIFA rules prevented him of playing in the Greek national team, for in his youth he was a member of the USSR Olympic team. Back then, if you had a single cap in a national team you was excluded for life to play in another nations team. His only cap with Greece was in a friendly vs Poland, and as a matter of fact HFF was penalized for this act. You look today the Swiss national team with only six or seven natives and you shook your head. Different times...


Hatzipanagis stayed in Thessaloniki for the rest of his life and there is not a single day that he is not stopped in the road by football fans wanting to express to him their admiration and memories of watching him -regardless of club favorites. He is a very shy and modest guy and loved by everybody here in Greece. And this tells a lot in this country for it is an extremely rare reaction. For all you non Greeks, copy-paste his name in Greek to watch here in You-Tube some more extended highlights of his unique talent: Βασίλης Χατζηπαναγής

[CRVENAZVEZDA-wnws]

Respect to my GREEK BROTHER from Serbia, and Crvena zvezda supporter