Stavros Sarafis, PAOK football veteran, has died at the age of 72. Stavros Sarafis was admitted to AHEPA after suffering a stroke.

He was born in 1950 in Epanomi, Thessaloniki. He played for PAOK from 1968 to 1981, winning a championship and two cups. He is the top scorer in the history of the Thessaloniki team with 136 goals and the fourth most appearances with 358 goals.

Ivan Savvidis, administration, competition department, his “children” at the Academy and the entire PAOK PAOK staff express their sincere condolences to the family of Stavros Sarafis on his untimely death. good heaven… pic.twitter.com/CO84aNTlpN

— PAOK (@PAOK_FC) October 13, 2022

The football player who wrote his name in golden letters on the pages of a book on the history of Greek football. A remarkable man who has served PAOK for over 45 years. Bon voyage, Caesar… pic.twitter.com/J1l1HuN7RG

— PAOK (@PAOK_FC) October 13, 2022

The football player who wrote his name in golden letters on the pages of a book on the history of Greek football. A remarkable man who has served PAOK for over 45 years. Ivan Savvidis, administration, competition department, his “children” at the Academy and the entire PAOK PAOK staff express their sincere condolences to the family of Stavros Sarafis on his untimely death. Bon voyage, Caesar…

Stavros Sarafis has been fighting furiously since September 17, when he was taken to hospital after suffering a stroke. However, on the morning of October 13, despite the encouraging signs of the last days, Caesar died, plunging into grief all who loved him.

Caesar PAOK

He was born in Epanomi on January 18, 1950, and his “love” relationship with football began in elementary school. His parents were farmers and went early to their fields every morning. He didn’t stay home to sleep. He took the ball to play football with his classmates before classes started. There was an unspoken agreement between them and they sacrificed their sleep to kick the ball. “Even if no one was there, I would hit the ball against the wall with punches or a head,” he recalled.

At the age of 13, he signed a ticket for Epanomi and participated in the first team as the youngest in the Thessaloniki Regional Championship in which Anagennisi competed at the time. “The first trainer I worked with was Adam Kitsudis from Epanomi, who loved working with the kids at Epanomi and getting to grips with their weak spots. So at the age of 15, I developed both through training and through the strength I needed to acquire in order to face clearly older opponents.”

From the beginning of his career, he played as a midfielder and remained with Epanomi from 1963 to 1967. Nikos Pangalos saw his talent and in fact in 1965 when he had an appendicitis operation he made sure his team took care of the costs and every PAOK procedure. His transfer to Dikefalos was completed on 15 August 1967.

He was only 17 years old, but he was so ready that, after less than a month with the team, he began to start in the starting lineup in the PAOK European match against Liège for the Exhibition Cup at the Coutanzoglio stadium on September 13, 1967, and a week later (20.09) he again was in the starting lineup in the match against Switzerland.

The start of the league was delayed and the first game day, which took place on October 8, 1967, found him again in the starting lineup and even scored the first goal of the season for PAOK in the 72nd minute with a shot. It was also his first goal at Toumba, his first for Dikefalos. This was followed by another 137 appearances in 358 matches for the national A team, and in the Greek Cup he played in 54 matches for PAOK and scored 26 goals. He made 21 appearances in European competition and scored 7 goals. In total, he played in 433 official matches for PAOK and scored 169 goals.

He was one of the main contributors to winning the 1976 championship, and had earlier, in 1972 and 1974, participated in both finals in which PAOK won the Greek Cup.

Nickname Caesar

“I was baptized by my first PAOK coach, Nikos Pangalos, because I had curly brown hair. Then the movie “Julius Caesar” was shown in cinemas, and that’s how he made the connection.”

Head of the national team

He played in all the national teams of our country and was a member of the Youth team when he was still a Renaissance Epanomi player. He played in 32 matches for the men’s national team and scored 7 goals.

He made his debut in the national team on July 19, 1969 in the match Australia – Greece 1: 0, which took place in Sydney. The last time he played was on April 24, 1977 in the USSR – Greece 2-0 match in Moscow.

STAVROS SARAFIS

433 COMPETITIONS
169 goals
Debut: September 13, 1967 | PAOK – Liege 0-2
Last game: Jun 7, 1981 | Atromitos – PAOK 0:2

Milestones

Greek Champion 1975-76

Greek Cup winner 1971-72, 1973-74.
1st PAOK scorer in National League A with 137 goals.
4th most played player for PAOK in the A national team after Koda, Iosifidis and Gounari.