Vassilis Hatzipanagis
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 26 October 1954 | ||
| Place of birth | Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1972–1975 | Pakhtakor | 96 | (22) |
| 1975–1990 | Iraklis | 281 | (62) |
| Total | 377 | (84) | |
| National team | |||
| 1975 | USSR Olympic | 4 | (1) |
| 1976–1999 | Greece | 2 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Vasilis "Vasia" Hatzipanagis (Greek: Βασίλης Χατζηπαναγής, Greek pronunciation: [va'silis xad͡zipana'ʝis], born 26 October 1954) is a retired Greek footballer. He played for Iraklis in the Greek Alpha Ethniki and Pakhtakor in the Soviet Supreme League. He also played for Greece and the USSR Olympic side. He is often regarded as the Greek Maradona.
Born to Greek political refugees to the USSR in October 1954, he was scouted by Pakhtakor, a club in Tashkent (a city of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic). They wanted to invest in this raw, yet refined player, but the law was strict: he had to apply for Soviet citizenship to be eligible for the Soviet top flight. Hatzipanagis made his professional debut at the age of 17. During his time there, he made ninety six appearances and scored twenty two goals, and gained promotion from the Soviet First League to the Soviet Supreme League in 1972.
With the Reign of the Colonels finally over a year previous, Hatzipanagis signed for the Thessaloniki club Iraklis, and such was his reputation that he filled the stadium for his first match in December 1975. The Iraklis fans would be one of the reasons this exceptional talent never joined another team, the other being his contract with Iraklis was heavily favoured towards the club making it almost impossible for him to leave in spite of his desire to test himself in a better league. Despite interest from Lazio, Arsenal, Porto and Stuttgart, the club's board feared the consequences of selling the crowd favourite, and Hatzipanagis stayed at Iraklis until 1990. His farewell appearance for the club came in a UEFA Cup first round match against Valencia on 19 September, in a 0-0 draw. In the second leg on 3 October, the team lost 2-0 at the Mestalla Stadium, with Hatzipanagis an unused substitute.
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