Career
He was predominantly a left winger though he had been known to perform at left-back. His reputation as a young left-footed teenager began with Olympic Kingsway where, despite his age, he intimidated many a defender with his change of pace. Lazaridis made his senior debut for West Adelaide Hellas in the Australian National Soccer League in the 1992 season.
His dribbling ability and pace drew much attention on the Australian scene.
At the end of the 1995 season he earned a move to Europe when West Ham manager Harry Redknapp encountered Lazaridis playing for West Adelaide during West Ham"s pre-season tour of Australia in May, 1995. Signed for £300,000 a poor debut and consistent injury problems made his debut season difficult when he made only six appearances.
He scored his first goal for West Ham in a 1-1 away draw with Wimbledon on 18 March 1997. Over four seasons, Lazaridis, played just 87 games for West Ham United and scored three goals.
In 1999 he dropped a division to sign for Birmingham City when manager Trevor Francis signed him in a deal worth an eventual £1.7million.
Settling much better at Street Andrew"s, he played an important role in guiding the team up to the Premiership for the 2002-2003 season. While at Birmingham he played in the 2001 Football League Cup Final. After seven successful years at Birmingham City, in which he had become a fan favourite, Lazaridis was released at the end of the 2005-2006 season after making 222 appearances for the club
He then looked to finish his career in Australia with A-League club Perth Glory.
Lazaridis made only 11 appearances for the Perth club in 2006-2007. His time there was tainted when in January 2007, Lazaridis returned a positive drug test for anti-androgen Finasteride, a prescription alopecia medication, which was banned at the time.
Although perhaps slim comfort to Lazaridis finasteride was removed from the banned list in large measure as a result of the widespread discontent that followed his unfortunate case becoming public. While noting his previous good character and making clear there was no evidence he had taken performance-enhancing drugs, he was found to have breached the rules and was given a 12-month suspension from football, mostly backdated.
In March 2008, Perth Glory manager David Mitchell cut Lazaridis from the club"s A-League roster, prompting the player to retire.
Club stats 1Includes National Soccer League finals, FA Cup, Football League Cup and A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup matches.