[3] Ivan Savvidis was born on March 27, 1959, in the village of Santa, Tsalka District, in what was then the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

[4] His parents, Ignatios and Kleoniki, were Pontic Greek workers, originating from Dumanlı, Turkey, who had 8 children, including Ivan.

[5] After spending some time in the village of Megali Vrysi in Kilkis where his sister lived, trying to encourage Greeks in the area to invest together in the private economy that was shaping the former Soviet Union, he returned to Rostov and his old job.

In 2007, Savvidis was re-elected as a Deputy in the State Duma as a member of the party United Russia led by chairman Vladimir Putin, serving until 2011.

[16] He has previously made positive comments about the Greek political party Syriza and has likened Alexis Tsipras to Vladimir Putin.

[18] On 10 August 2012, he acquired ownership of the Greek football team PAOK[19] and entered the Forbes list of the richest people in the world.

Ivan Savvidis was the focus of global attention on the evening of March 11, 2018, when he entered the stadium during the PAOK - AEK championship match, which was a pivotal moment in the 2017–2018 season.

The overturning of the goal sparked a huge uproar both in the stands and inside the stadium, with players from both teams storming the pitch.

[24][25] Savvidis was initially sentenced to 25 months' imprisonment, suspended for three years, after being found guilty of illegal entry into the stadium and possession of weapons.

Apart from the criminal aspect, the sports justice system had punished the PAOK FC president with a three-year stadium ban and a fine of 100,000 euros.

In Thessaloniki, there was an immediate outcry against this hypothesis, accusing the institutions of favoring Olympiakos; in the face of this and protests from certain political circles, the government tabled an amendment to the law stipulating as a penalty for such cases of multiple ownership the deduction of 5 to 10 points.

[29] Savvidis is President of the Federation of Greek Communities of Russia,[30] and was a key figure in pushing for the newly created region by the World Council of Hellenes Abroad in the Black Sea countries.