Christos Ardizoglou

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. In 1971 Ardizoglou was eventually promoted to the men's team and signed a professional contract, playing as a full-back. At the end of the season Apollon were relegated to the second division. 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. In July 1974, the management of Apollon, obeying the will of the leaders of the then regime, were about to give Ardizoglou to Panathinaikos. His move to the "greens" was thwarted at the last minute due to the fall of the dictatorial regime. 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 and 4 players as an exchange, while Ardizoglou got an apartment as a transfer gift.

AEK Athens

Ardizoglou quickly established…

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. On 24 September 1975 Ardizoglou made his debut for Greece against Romania for the Balkan Cup. 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.

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

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.