Christos Karipidis

Early Career (PAOK, Kerkyra and Kavala)

Karipidis started his career in U20 PAOK in 2000 to be promoted the next season in the first team. PAOK has given him to Kavala (2001–2002) and to Kerkyra (2002–2003). He returned to PAOK, where he stayed until 2006 (69 appearances, 3 goals in all competitions) when he made the big step to play abroad accepting the proposal of Hearts.

Hearts

He joined Hearts from PAOK on 3 August 2006 for a fee of around £200,000. Karipidis made his Hearts debut against AEK Athens in a third-round UEFA Champions League qualifier at Murrayfield on 9 August 2006 in a defensive midfield role, Hearts lost the game 2–1. In August 2008 Karipidis looked set for a return to his former club PAOK following an indifferent start to his Hearts career and the birth of his daughter. Hearts negotiated a fee in the region of £200,000 as they looked to recoup the fee they paid to sign him from the Greek club 2 years earlier and he was offered a four-year deal by PAOK. However, newly appointed manager Csaba László convinced Karipidis to stay and decided to use him as a holding midfielder, an idea which was initially met with a negative reaction by Hearts fans. Karipidis himself insisted he was happy to play anywhere László decided. Despite having played most of his career as either a central defender or occasionally a right-back Karipidis performed well in his new role, prompting László to say "Karipidis, at the moment, is the discovery of the year in…

Karipidis was a part of the Greece football squad at the 2004 Summer Olympics, but he did not play a single minute in the competition. Karipidis had a good start with the 2008-09 season former Hearts player and current technical director of the Hellenic Football Federation, when Takis Fyssas announced that Karipidis was in the plans of the Greece national team.

He hails from Anagennisi, Serres.

Omonia Cypriot First Division: 1 2009–10 Cypriot Cup: 2 2010–11, 2011–12 LTV Super Cup: 1 2010 APOEL Cypriot First Division: 1 2012–13