Rizos Lellis

Rizos Lellis
Personal information
Full name Rizos Lellis
Date of birth (1947-11-13) 13 November 1947[1]
Place of birth Larissa, Greece[1]
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position Defender
Youth career
–1964 Iraklis Larissa
1964 AEL
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1964–1972 AEL 189 (7)
1972–1973 AEK Athens 30 (1)
1973–1976 AEL 75 (1)
Total 294 (9)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Rizos Lellis (Greek: Ρίζος Λέλλης; born 13 November 1947) is a former Greek professional footballer who played as a defender.[2]

Club career

Lellis started playing football at the fields of his village, Anatoli. When he was at his junior high-school years, he and his family were settled to Larissa and thus he enrolled in the youth team of Iraklis Larissa.[3] On 17 May 1964 Iraklis alongside other clubs from Larissa merged and created AEL and thus Lelis became member of the youth team of AEL.[4][5][6] In the last two matches of the season, under Alexander Petrovic he was promoted to the men's team and from there onwards became a regular, at the age of 16. His appearances attracted the interest of the big clubs of both Athens and Thessaloniki.[7]

On 6 July 1972, he made the big step of his career and was transferred to AEK Athens[8] for a fee of 1,200,000 drachmas.[9] There, he became a regular in their defense.[10] He also competed in the UEFA Cup, playing at both legs against Salgótarján for the first round[11][12] and against Liverpool for the second round.[13][14]

Despite his good performance, Lellis he was released from AEK[15] and on 31 August 1973 he returned to the newly promoted AEL,[16] due to the health issues of his mother.[7] In 1975, when the club faced relegation,[17] he stayed and competed in the second division for a season, before retiring at the young age of 29.[7]

Personal life

Lellis operated an PRO-PO agency in Larissa, since his playing days.[7] After his football career he continued in operating it, until he opened a record store.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Ρίζος Λέλλης". football.aek.com.
  2. ↑ Rizos Lellis at WorldFootball.net
  3. ↑ "ΣΟΚ: Πέθανε ο γιος του θρυλικού άσου της ΑΕΚ και της Λάρισας Ρίζου Λέλλη". iapopsi.gr. 8 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "Η ιστορία της ΑΕΛ μέσα από 47 ημερομηνίες". sport24. 17 May 2011.
  5. ↑ "H ένδοξη ιστορία της ΑΕΛ σε βίντεο!". gazzetta.gr. 16 November 2014.
  6. ↑ "Η ιστορία της ΑΕΛ 1964–2008". dailymotion.com. 20 May 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "«Ήμουν ένα απλό παιδί»: Ο θρύλος της ΑΕΛ, Ρίζος Λέλλης, αφηγείται την πορεία του εντός και εκτός γηπέδων". archive.istorima.org.
  8. ↑ Αργύρης Κοκκινάκης (7 July 1972). "Ο Λέλης υπέγραψε στην ΑΕΚ". Athletic Echo (in Greek). pp. 1, 4.
  9. ↑ "Υπέγραψε και ο Λέλης". Apogevmatini (in Greek). 7 July 1972. p. 9.
  10. ↑ "Ρίζος Λέλης". aekpedia.com.
  11. ↑ "History: AEK Athens 3-1 Salgótarján UEFA Europa League 1972/73". UEFA.
  12. ↑ "History: Salgótarján 1-1 AEK Athens UEFA Europa League 1972/73". UEFA.
  13. ↑ "History: Liverpool 3-0 AEK Athens UEFA Europa League 1972/73". UEFA.
  14. ↑ "History: AEK Athens 1-3 Liverpool UEFA Europa League 1972/73". UEFA.
  15. ↑ "Απεδεσμεύθη ο Λέλης". Athletic Echo (in Greek). 5 August 1973. p. 1.
  16. ↑ Σ. Πούσιος (1 September 1973). "Λέλης και Ματζουράκης στην Λάρισα". Athletic Echo (in Greek). p. 8.
  17. ↑ "Greece 1974/75". RSSSF.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.