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Kleanthis Maropoulos

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Born in [[Tuzla]], [[Asia Minor]], in [[1919]], '''Kleanthis Maropoulos''' was arguably the best player of his period (late [[1930s]] - early [[1940s1950s]]) known affectionately as the "Blond Eagle of AEK".
Maropoulos came to [[Greece]] with his family at age 3 - after the [[Asia Minor Disaster]] and settled in [[Kalamata]]. At age 12 he joined the local football club Prasina Poulia. When his parents moved to [[Kalogreza]] in the [[Athens]] area, he signed for Ethnikos Kalogreza. In [[1934]], he was spotted by [[AEK FC|AEK]] who placed him in their youth team. In [[1936]], he was promoted to the first team.
Led by Maropoulos, alongside players like [[Tryfon Tzanetis]] and [[Kostas Negrepontis]], [[AEK FC|AEK]] won their first two championships in [[1939]] and [[1940]] including the first domestic double by a Greek club.
Unfortunately, the glory years of [[AEK FC|AEK]] and Maropoulos were interrupted by the [[World War II]]. He continued his career after the war and played until the early [[1950s1952]]. He is credited with scoring 253 goals, 97 of which he attained prior to the war.
Maropoulos was capped 10 times by the [[National Football Team]] of Greece. He subsequently managed the Greek National Team in the early [[1960s]] before retiring altogether from football to manage his sporting goods stores. He died in [[1991]].

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