[4] Notably, on 22 June 1984, he received the prestigious invitation to join the World XI, a team comprising esteemed football legends from around the globe, further solidifying his status as a luminary of the sport.

Hatzipanagis was born in 1954 in Tashkent (capital city of Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic), to Greek political refugees.

With the Reign of the Colonels finally over the year before,[7] Hatzipanagis signed for the Thessaloniki's club Iraklis, and such was his reputation that he filled the stadium for his first match in December 1975.

Despite interest from Lazio, Arsenal, Porto and Stuttgart, the club's board feared the consequences of selling the crowd favourite, and Hatzipanagis stayed at Iraklis until 1990.

[11] However, despite being told by national coach Konstantin Beskov that his ability was "way above Greece's level", he turned his back on the Soviet league – where as a left-sided attacker he was considered second only to the great Oleg Blokhin – to move to the land of his fathers.

As an attacking midfielder with Iraklis, he packed in the crowds at Thessaloniki's Kaftanzoglio Stadium, where his performances earned him the moniker of "the footballing Nureyev".

Further recognition did come on 22 June 1984, when he was invited to join a World XI featuring other legends such as Franz Beckenbauer, Mario Kempes, Kevin Keegan, Dominique Rocheteau, Peter Shilton, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Hugo Sanchez, Ruud Krol, Felix Magath and his countryman Thomas Mavros for a match against New York Cosmos in New Jersey.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's 50th anniversary, he was selected as Greece's Golden Player of the past 50 years by the Hellenic Football Federation.