He was just eight years old when in 2010 he joined the PAOK youth academy system from Doxa Pentalofou. Surprisingly, the diminiutive Christos Tzolis, even then, stood out as a passionate and intelligent player. An explosive forward, with a great touch and eye for goal, as well as flexibility able with both feet, Tzolis has also played in recent years on the flanks, where he also stands out for his creativity and ability to beat players one-on-one.

Born on January 30, 2002 in Thessaloniki, he progressed with consistency and prudence through all the basic stages of the educational process of the PAOK Academy. He even managed to go viral in a video of the famous Under-12s match against Barcelona at the Camp Nou. He also managed to catch a lot of attention in 2015, at the Lennart Johansson tournament in Stockholm, when he scored 11 goals in 5 matches. The 2002 batch of PAOK academy players was indeed an eye-popping group.

Shortly afterwards, however, he left for Germany for family reasons. 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 top scorer with 29 goals in 25 matches. Although younger, he moved up and established himself in the Under-19 side, adding two consecutive championships with that age level to his resume, but also part of the team that was unbeaten for a record of two years. In the 2019-2020 season he scored 19 goals and 8 assists in 26 appearances, again being the team’s top scorer. He also played in all four UEFA Youth League games, scoring in the 2-2 draw against Dynamo Kyiv at the Toumba.

Tzolis is an international with Greece. He has scored 6 goals in 9 matches with the Greek Under-17 side, with whose jersey he scored two very important goals against Kosovo to lead the team to qualification for the Under-17 European Championship in 2019. At the same time, he has also made 3 appearances for the Under-19 national team.

After the unprecedented situation of the lockdown period due to the coronavirus pandemic, Tzolis began to train intensively with the PAOK first team. Clearly ready for the big step up, he won the trust of then coach Abel Ferreira, making his first appearance on 07.06.2020 in a game against Olympiacos in the Super League Play Offs. The next stop – a moment he will always remember in his football life – was June 20, when he scored a great goal against OFI in the Play Offs.

With this goal, he «threatened» a big record, which is still held by George Koudas. Tzolis, however, is one year older than Koudas, when he scored his first goal for PAOK in the old Alpha Ethniki division (on April 1, 1964). However, Christos became the youngest scorer in the championship of 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 Men’s senior Greece team for the first time in August 2020 for the UEFA Nations League matches.

This season, The Golden Boy is now one of the key players in the team. In 29 games, he has scored 12 goals, and provided seven assists, won MVP titles, scored his first hat-trick, and earned many more accolades.

Happy Birthday Christos!