1993 Greek Football Cup final

The 1993 Greek Cup final was the 49th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 12 May 1993 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. It was Olympiacos' twenty-seventh Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 68 years of existence and Panathinaikos' twentieth Greek Cup finalin their 85-year history.^[1] Before the match, the manager of Olympiacos Nikos Alefantos had a peculiar idea. He made all his football players to get a haircut as he thought it would work as a charm. Additionally at that time, short hair was not that fashionable and most footballers had long hairstyle. In the end, Olympiacos saw his trick with the haircuts not succeeding, with the only thing that they achieved was for the match to be remembered as the "final of the shaved heads".^[2]

This was the ninth Greek Cup final held at the Athens Olympic Stadium, after the 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 finals.

The Athens Olympic Stadium was built in 1982. The stadium is used as a venue for Panathinaikos and Greece and was used for Olympiacos and AEK Athens in various occasions. Its current capacity is 80,000 and hosted a European Cup/UEFA Champions League final in 1983, a European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1987 and the 1991 Mediterranean Games.^[3]

Olympiacos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty six times, winning nineteen of them. The last time that they played in a final was in 1992, where they had won PAOK by 3–1 on aggregate (1–1 at Toumba Stadium and 2–0 at Karaiskakis Stadium).

Panathinaikos had reached the Greek Cup final nineteen times, winning twelve of them. The last time that they played in a final was in 1991, where they had won Athinaikos by 5–1 on aggregate (3–0 at Leoforos Alexandras Stadium and 2–1 at the Olympic Stadium).

The two teams had met each other in a Cup final eight times in the 1960, 1962, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1975, 1986 and 1988 finals.^[4]

• 1992–93 Greek Football Cup