The city of Tashkent, capital of the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan would, in 1949, become the new home to over 18,000 Greek communists, displaced from their homeland by the brutal Civil War that had raged through Greece for the previous three years and secretly relocated to the Soviet Union having first fled to Albania. Among their number were a couple, ethnically Greek, previously displaced from their respective Turkish and Cypriot birthplaces and the parents-to-be of a young footballer who would become revered as Greece’s greatest ever player, despite never playing a competitive game for his country. This is a brief story of Vasilis Hatzipanagis, a man often dubbed “the Greek Maradona”.

Hatzipanagis was born in 1954, and like Maradona, was a left-footed, small, stocky, skilful dribbler. Starting out with Pakhtakor Tashkent and making his first team debut as a 17-year-old and helping Pakhtakor to promotion to the highly competitive Soviet Top League in his debut season with the club. He excelled in the top division in the Soviet Union competing against top sides like Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Kyiv. His skill and impact despite his tender years didn’t go unnoticed and he was selected for the qualifying games for the 1976 Summer Olympics, scoring on his debut against Yugoslavia.

Despite this, and interest from major teams in Moscow, Hatzipanagis really wanted to return to Greece, the land of his parents. 1974 had seen the removal of the Greek monarchy and the land that had given democracy to the world was on the way to becoming a democracy again. Through an intermediary, acting as an agent Hatzipanagis found himself at Iraklis, a club based in the north Greek city of Thessaloniki. His status as a Soviet citizen complicated matters in his transfer and the fact that he had family in Thessaloniki seems to have been the reason that Vasilis signed not for one of Greece’s more famous clubs but a side who hadn’t won a major title in almost 30 years.

That would all change with the arrival of Hatzipanagis who helped Iraklis to victory in a dramatic 1976 Greek Cup final, Iraklis beat Panathinaikos 3–2, in the semi-final but Panathinaikos appealed against the result claiming the Iraklis’ winning goal came from an offside position, the courts turned down Panathinaikos’ appeal and Iraklis faced another Athens giant, Olympiacos in the final. Iraklis won the Cup after a 6–5 penalty shootout after the game had finished 4-4 with Hatzipanagis scoring two of the goals.

Despite, or perhaps because he had helped Iraklis to the Greek Cup, a Balkan Cup and some impressive league finishes, the club were determined to keep their star asset, turning down what would have been record fees for a Greek player from interested clubs like FC Porto, Lazio, Stuttgart and Arsenal (his godfather lived in London and he even trained with the Arsenal first team which included Liam Brady). With Iraklis relegated during a bribery controversy Hatzipanagis committed to leaving rather than play in the second division and began a strike and a Bosman-like appeal regarding his contract conditions. Although he would change the contract rules for Greek players it would come too late for him to benefit personally, he would finish his club career, somewhat diminished by injury in 1990, still on the books of Iraklis.

At international level the Greek footballing public voted Hatzipanagis as their “Golden Player” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of UEFA, this was despite the fact that he had played only one friendly match (against Poland in 1976) for the Greek national team, this was down to UEFA’s refusal to let him play again over the fact that he had previously represented the Soviet Union in the Olympic qualifiers. The intransigence of Iraklis club owners, the Greek FA and UEFA had robbed him of the chance to demonstrate his undeniable skill and talent at the highest level, but for those who saw him in Tashkent or Thessaloniki he will always remain a legend.

Originally published in the Ireland v Greece match programme October 2023