PAOK FC wishes happy birthday with health, happiness and lots of success to Stelios Pozoglou, who turned 19 on Thursday!

Stelios was born in Thessaloniki on 22 January 1996, to Lefteris Pozoglou and Alexandra, their second child. He stayed in the city until the age of 12, before moving with his family to Epanomi, where Stavros Sarafis… rules. “Caesar” spotted the child and urged him to pursue a great career by keeping his feet firmly on the ground and letting his dreams take him to the moon!

He started to kick a ball at the age of 5-6 and, after a spell at Posidonas Kalamaria and Faliro, he joined the PAOK Academies at the age of 9, in 2005. His father, a die-hard fan of PAOK, had already started taking him along to Toumba. He was playing as central forward for 6-7 years. At the age of 10, in his second season at PAOK youth teams, he found the net 97 (!) times – an astonishing stat!

His favourite player is Ronaldinho (“formidable technique”, he says). His favourite PAOK player? Vieirinha . He used to celebrate together with the Portuguese winger, as a ball boy. He was anxious to celebrate his 18th birthday and couldn’t wait to get his driving license, because “my father and mother have been driving me back and forth to training for years now”

Even before his debut with PAOK senior squads, Pozoglou became known for his gesture to dedicate one of his goals to Angelos Tsipouras. A player of Aris, a friend and teammate from Makedonia’ Combo teams, who lost his life so prematurely.

Young Stelios’ dreams come in the shape of a football and in Karditsa he took a first step towards a great career, according to specialists. Under two conditions though: first, he needs to tame his playing nerve deriving from his exquisite technique and, second, not to get carried away from his ball controlling skills. His football brain and genius on the pitch are evident even to those who don’t possess vast knowledge of the game.

He made an impact on his debut in the UEFA Europa League, coming off the bench and scoring the equalizer against AZ Alkmaar in December 2013. This goal ranks him third in the youngest scorers’ list of the competition, behind Iker Muniain and Romelu Lukaku.