Vassilis Lipiridis (alternate spellings: Vasilis, Lypiridis) (; born January 1, 1967, in

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

, Greece) is a retired Greek professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. At 2.02 m (6 ft 7 in) tall, he played at the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

position.

Professional career

Lipridis started his basketball playing career with the youth clubs of Edessaikos. He spent one season with HAN Thessaloniki, during the 1984–85 season. Lipiridis played with great success as a defensive

with

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect * ...

, winning with them, the Greek League championship six times (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991) and the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

5 times (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992). He also took part in 3 consecutive

Final Fours This is a list of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four participants. Final Four by year From the first tournament in 1939 to 1951, the National Semifinals were also considered the Regional Championships, with the Nationa ...

of the

FIBA European Champions Cup The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

: Ghent 1988, Munich 1989, and Zaragoza 1990. While he played there, Aris joined the elite of European basketball clubs, but a European-wide title did not come for Lipiridis until much later, in 1993, when the club won the 2nd-tier level

FIBA European Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. In 1996, Lipiridis joined MENT, for some months, and in 1997, he joined

OFI Crete OFI Football Club (, ''Heraklion Sportsmen Club 1925 FC''), commonly referred to as OFI, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Heraklion, on the island of Crete. It is part of the O.F.I. (sports club), OFI mul ...

basketball club, for one season.

National team career

Lipiridis was a member of the senior men's

Greek national basketball team The Greece men's national basketball team () represents Greece in international basketball. They are controlled by the Hellenic Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Greece. Greece is currently ranked 13th in the FIBA Wo ...

that finished in 6th place at the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at t ...

. He also played at the EuroBasket 1991.

Awards and accomplishments

*6× Greek League Champion: (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991) *5×

Winner: (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992) *

Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...

Champion: (1993)

References

External links

FIBA ProfileHellenic Federation Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipiridis, Vassilis 1967 births Living people Aris B.C. players Centers (basketball) Greek men's basketball players HANTH B.C. players 1990 FIBA World Championship players MENT B.C. players OFI Crete B.C. players Sportspeople from Edessa, Greece Power forwards 20th-century Greek sportsmen