Born in Rafina, Attica, (however, his families origins are from the village of Papadianika, Peloponnese where he received an honourable reward from the village) Sarganis started his football career as a full-back at Ilisiakos.
Sarganis then controversially joined Olympiacos' arch-rivals, Panathinaikos and played for the greens for the next five years.
During his career Sarganis was capped 58 times by the Greece national team.
[1] His international high point came on 15 October 1980, when he preserved a 1–0 Greek victory in Copenhagen against Denmark.
The Danish press gave him the nickname Phantom by which he would be known throughout the rest of his career.