Rizos Lellis
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rizos Lellis | ||
| Date of birth | 13 November 1947[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Larissa, Greece[1] | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1964 | Iraklis Larissa | ||
| 1964 | AEL | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1964–1972 | AEL | 189 | (7) |
| 1972–1973 | AEK Athens | 30 | (1) |
| 1973–1976 | AEL | 75 | (1) |
| Total | 294 | (9) | |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Rizos Lellis (Greek: Ρίζος Λέλλης; born 13 November 1947) is a former Greek professional footballer who played as a defender.
Lellis started playing football at the fields of his village, Anatoli. When he was at his junior high-school years, he and his family were settled to Larissa and thus he enrolled in the youth team of Iraklis Larissa.[2] On 17 May 1964 Iraklis alongside other clubs from Larissa merged and created AEL and thus Lelis became member of the youth team of AEL.[3][4][5] In the last two matches of the season, under Alexander Petrovic he was promoted to the men's team and from there onwards became a regular, at the age of 16. His appearances attracted the interest of the big clubs of both Athens and Thessaloniki.[6]
On 6 July 1972, he made the big step of his career and was transferred to AEK Athens[7] for the amount of 1,200,000 drachmas.[8] There, he became a regular in their defense.[9] He also competed in the UEFA Cup, playing at both legs against Salgótarján for the first round[10][11] and against Liverpool for the second round.[12][13]
Despite his good performance, Lellis he was released from AEK[14] and on 31 August 1973 he returned to the newly promoted AEL,[15] due to the health issues of his mother.[6] In 1975 when the club faced relegation,[16] he stayed and competed in the second division for a season, before retiring at the young age of 29.[6]
