He was only eight years old, in 2010, when he joined the academies of PAOK, arriving from Doxa Pentalofou. Surprisingly, the diminutive Tzolis, even at that young age seemed switched on and passionate. An explosive forward, with a very good eye for goal, he is just as good with both feet. In recent years Tzolis has played in an attacking role, where he has stood out for both his creativity and composure when one-on-one against opponents.

Born on January 30, 2002 in Thessaloniki, he passed through the various age groups and basic stages of his footballing education at the PAOK Academy with consummate ease. He even managed to make a video of PAOK’s Under-12 match with Barcelona at the Camp Nou go viral. He also managed to create quite an impression in 2015, at the Lennart Johansson tournament in Stockholm, when he scored 11 goals in 5 matches. In general, the 2002 batch of players was an eye-popping group of footballers.

Shortly afterwards, however, he left for Germany, for family reasons. While there he played at Rosenborg. He returned to PAOK in 2018, and in his first year playing for the Under-17s he was the team’s leading player, scoring 29 goals in 25 matches. Although younger, he moved up to establish himself with the Under-19s, going on to win two consecutive league titles at that level, being part of a team that went two years unbeaten. In the 2019-2020 season, he was the top scorer with 19 goals, and he also contributed eight assists in 26 appearances. He also played in all of the club’s four UEFA Youth League matches, scoring one goal in a 2-2 draw with Dynamo Kyiv at the Toumba.

Tzolis is also a youth international with Greece. He has scored six goals in nine matches with the Under-17s, for whom he also scored two very important goals against Kosovo to lead the team to qualification for the Euro 2019 tournament at Under-17 level. At the same time, he has already also played three times for the Under-19 side.

After the unprecedented lockdown situation due to Covid-19, Tzolis began training intensively with the PAOK first team. Ready to make the big step up, he won over the trust of coach Abel Ferreira, making his debut on 07.06.2020 in a game with Olympiacos in the Super League Play Offs. The next highlight – one which he will always remember – came on June 20, when he scored a wonderful goal against OFI Crete, again in the Play Offs.

With this goal, he «threatened» a big record which is still held by George Koudas. Tzolis is one year older than Koudas, when he scored his first goal for PAOK in the Greek top flight (on April 1, 1964). However, Christos became the youngest scorer in the 2019-20 season, after scoring a goal at the age of 18 years, four months and 21 days! He was even called up to the Greek senior national team for the first time in August 2020 for the UEFA Nations League matches.