Taken between four walls, for four months. Vassili Cremanzidis was currently undergoing a third treatment to combat his cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Only his parents, the priest and the doctor could enter his room at the Children’s. Not even his sister or his friends. It was 2003. He was 14 years old.

“But there was a window, with a telephone and a microphone to speak with them,” says Cremanzidis, showing one of the many smiles that will punctuate his interview with La Presse.

At that moment, Vassili Cremanzidis was far from suspecting that 20 years later, he would be sitting in a conference room at the CF Montreal training center as assistant sports director, occupying a key position within the club of his childhood.

No, because at that point “they invented wireless controllers” for the GameCube. “And it was walking through the window! »

“We were playing a lot of NHL 2004 at that time. It was a good game. It passed the time. »

Even one of his doctors got caught up in the game. He was drawn to Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64.

“He’d say, ‘OK, I’ve got time for six or nine holes!’” »

“It’s one of the things I remember most,” says Cremanzidis. Because I couldn’t get out of there. »

Vassili Cremanzidis is today Olivier Renard’s deputy at the CFM. His main mandate is to manage the team’s payroll through the complicated rules of MLS. To think about it in the short, medium and long term. Which means that he is also involved in the club’s other sporting decisions. Like hiring the next head coach. We will come back to this in the next tab.

Cremanzidis has had a passion for soccer since he was very young. His father was the coach of a AAA team in the Bourassa region.

“My family has always been into football,” he says. I went to all the Montreal Impact games at the Claude-Robillard center. »

The Cremanzidis knew the players of the time well, namely Nick de Santis, Mauro Biello, Rocco Placentino and David Fronimadis. The latter two had also played for Vassili’s father before. The first two would later play a crucial role in Vassili’s career.

Our interlocutor points to the wall behind us: the A-League champions trophy, which the Impact won in 2004. It was there. “It was fun! It was different from now, but it was very good. »

Young Vassili played, too. “When I was little, I was a very good player. When you go watch the U8s or U9s, there are always one or two players who can dribble past everyone. That was me at that moment. »

Cancer struck him when he was 10 years old.

“I’ve had it three times,” he says.

The illness did not necessarily put a damper on his playing career, but his cardio was clearly affected. “I still played, but it was worse competition. »

The first treatment did not work. The cancer returned “after eight, nine months.”

The second treatment, a little more experimental, was even worse. “It came back even faster,” he said.

For the third attempt, doctors tried a more innovative, but also more drastic, treatment: a bone marrow transplant. That’s when he had to be isolated for four months, from November 2003 to February 2004.

Again, the first attempt was unsuccessful.

“We didn’t know until the following year, but one person in Germany donated twice, because the first time didn’t work. […] She could say no, but of course she said yes. I thanked her for that. »

He explains that depending on his young age, the doctors went through his parents to explain his situation.

Vassili Cremanzidis says he remembers “several things”, some of which he would prefer to forget. But he still cherishes the time he spent with his family. “It brought us closer together, all that. »

This ordeal also allowed him to “see life from another perspective”.

“They told me I smiled all the time. But maybe that’s why I’m always happy. »

In his hospital bed, Vassili received a great visit. The Impact players came to meet him, armed with collectible cards, his other passion. Gabriel Gervais, Patrick Leduc, Nick de Santis and Mauro Biello, present, signed them for him.

When he talks about it, we see his hand pointing backwards. Towards his office. His card collection is there. After the interview, he takes us into this simple open-plan room, which he shares with Olivier Renard and Daniel Podzi, director of soccer operations for the senior team. And he shows us his collection of cards from all eras of the club.

“I’m a collector of hockey cards, football cards, pretty much every sport,” he explains. He also has a few Impact jerseys on which autographs have been placed.

At age 15, Cremanzidis was finally in remission. For real. He continued his studies and obtained his bachelor’s degree in commerce at Concordia. He is heading to Georgetown University in Washington to do his master’s degree in sports industry management.

It was during his last session at Georgetown that destiny played out. We are now in 2013. With only one final project to present at the end of the year and only four face-to-face classes in the meantime, he decides to spend these months in Montreal. For the week of the presentation, he found himself in a hotel in Washington. The weekend when the Impact faces D.C. United, there.

“And when I was in the lobby, practicing, I see the Montreal Impact entering my hotel! […] And Mauro was there, so we talked. »

They exchange phone numbers. After his presentation, Cremanzidis has a drink in the lobby with Biello and Nick de Santis. A week later, in Montreal, the discussions continued.

Until the Impact offered an internship to one of its biggest supporters.

Vassili Cremanzidis worked at Impact as a performance analyst until 2015. After two years at IMFC, he felt the need to broaden his horizons, to seek “connections” and “experience” elsewhere in the league.

Head to the West Coast, with the San Jose Earthquakes. He will stay there from 2016 to 2018, but it is with the arrival of the Italian Jesse Fioranelli as general manager (2017-2021) that Cremanzidis gets a real chance to stand out.

“He came here not knowing any MLS rules. At that time, I understood everything, but I did not have the opportunity to apply what I knew. He gave me the chance to work with him. I made a lot of mistakes, I did a lot of good things, but I was happy to learn on the pitch. »

In 2017, he was the one who led the presentations of video analyzes to players and coaches. “We didn’t have a good season, we were in last place. But I don’t think it’s because of the videos! », he adds, laughing.

Vassili Cremanzidis returned to the Montreal Impact in December 2018, less than a year before the arrival of Olivier Renard. He holds the same position there as in San José, that is to say responsible for analytics and assistant director of player personnel.

It was pointed out to him that his interlude in California was similar to the story of a player who went on loan to perfect his development.

“I sometimes give this example to young people,” he confirms. Some don’t want to leave since they have the comfort of their home and their parents’ kitchen, he says.

“But at the end, when the players leave, they thank you […]. You learn a lot. You don’t forget things here, but you become a man outside the house. »

And in his case, a man who never stopped smiling, even at the height of life’s trials.