Christos Ardizoglou

Ardizoglou was born in Jerusalem, where his family had found refuge after the Asia Minor disaster, from a Greek father and an Israeli mother. After living the first years of his life in Israel, his parents, Dimitris and Angeliki decided in 1958 to settle the family in Greece. Thus the 5-year-old Ardizoglou alongside his parents and five siblings moved in the slums of Nea Ionia, in a harsh poverty which consisted the everyday life in the most common way of the time. Trying to mentally escape of that way of life, he started occasionally playing football and doing cycling training at the Amarousion Sports Club where he obtained his sports card. The hard opposition and punishment from his parents due to his enactment with sports, did not prevent him from following his dream. Soon enough, the neighborhood scouts were impressed by the skills of the young Ardizoglou and despite being rejected by the neighboring AEK Athens, which he desired to join, he eventually signed for the another neighboring club of Apollon Athens. ==Club career==

Apollon Athens In 1966 Ardizoglou became a member of the infrastructure departments of Apollon Athens. Despite his great performances with the reserve team of Apollon the manager of the men's team, Dezső Bundzsák refused to promote him. As a result he quit football and began working in a factory for six months, until he was urged to return to the club. Ardizoglou, who in the meantime has been converted to the position of wide midfielder, was amongst the players who had major contribution in the club's return to the first division. From that moment on he became one of their star players. Afterwards he was very close in signing to Olympiacos, coming to their training ground. Nevertheless on 7 August with his quick actions and in a surprising move the new president of AEK Athens, Loukas Barlos got him to dress in the colours of his club. The transfer cost the exorbitant sum for the time of 12 million drachmas, 4 players of AEK as an exchange and Ardizoglou got an apartment as a transfer gift. His greatest moment was reaching the semi-finals of UEFA Cup in 1977 even though he wasn't eligible to compete, due to the punishment with Greece U19. At the end of that season AEK won the domestic double. He also contributed in the great 6–1 win over Porto on 13 November 1978 for European Cup, where he scored the second goal for his team. He played for AEK for 11 consecutive years, winning 2 Championships and 2 Greek Cups including a double. In 1985 Ardizoglou came into conflict with the major shareholder of the club, Andreas Zafiropoulos and in the summer of the same year he and with the urge of the then manager Antonis Georgiadis, he terminated his contract with the yellow-blacks. but this time he did not manage to establish himself. In January 1986 he moved to the second division side, Atromitos, where he played for one year and then moved to Olympiacos Chalkida. There he retired as a footballer and later started coaching at the level of amateur football clubs and academies. ==International career==

Ardizoglou was a member of Greece U19 from 1973 to 1974. He played in the qualifying round of the 1973 UEFA European Under-18 Championship, where they finised second behind Romania. The following year he was part of the squad the qualified in the 1974 UEFA European Under-18 Championship and reached its semi-finals, where the lost to Yugoslavia. A few days later, a group of Greek internationals met the referee of the match by accident which they attacked. Amongst his attackers, the referee identified Ardizoglou and Voulgaris of Olympiacos Volos and filed a report, which resulted in his punishment with a two-year ban from the club and international competitions of UEFA. He was member of the squad that participated in UEFA Euro 1980, which consisted Greece's debut in a major tournament. He played 43 times in total scoring 2 goals. He has also been invited once to the World XI. ==Managerial career==

Ardizoglou was also the manager of Apollon Athens from 1 July 1998 to 3 September 1999. ==After football==

Ardizoglou is now retired from the Greek Police, in which he joined in the context of the search for a stable job in the State, as was customary for athletes of his time. He continuously participates in the events of the Veterans' Association of AEK Athens. ==Style of play==

The distinctive athletic skills of Ardizoglou complemented his unconventional and idiosyncratic character and contributed to a distinctive presence on the pitch, both positively and negatively. His appearance with his tall and slender physique, playing with his socks pulled down to his ankles and his shirt outside his shorts, made him easily recognizable on the pitch. His appearance was complemented by his distinctive movements and playing style. He primarily played on the wings, with a preference for the left side, in a role that allowed him to start from deeper positions, allowing him to exploit space to sprint and penetrate the opposing defenses, while he was also capable of playing as a full-back. He was an accurate passer, with good free kicks, power shots, but was particularly noted for his pace. His pace enabled him to advance towards the opposition area with minimal resistance. He was technically skilled, although he relied less on close dribbling, as he preferred to exploit open space by pushing the ball forward and accelerating, overtaking his marker. Despite his evident talent, at the same time was he was also capable of highly inconsistent performances. When he had the ball he could be unpredictable in his decision-making, capable of dribbling past multiple opponents to score, while at other times losing possession or carrying the ball out of play. ==Honours==

AEK Athens • Alpha Ethniki: 1977–78, 1978–79 • Greek Cup: 1977–78, 1982–83 Individual • Greek Cup top scorer: 1975–76 ==References==