1995–96 AEK Athens F.C. season

AEK Athens

1995–96 season
Chairman	Giannis Karras (until 3 October) Michalis Trochanas (until 3 April) Nikos Stratos
Manager	Dušan Bajević
Stadium	Nikos Goumas Stadium
Alpha Ethniki	2nd
Greek Cup	Winners
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Vasilios Tsiartas (26) All: Vasilios Tsiartas (32)
Highest home attendance	23,000 vs Borussia Mönchengladbach (2 November 1995)
Lowest home attendance	828 vs Panegialios (25 October 1995)
Average home league attendance	10,362
Biggest win	Apollon Athens 1–7 AEK Athens AEK Athens 6–0 Athinaikos
Biggest defeat	Borussia Mönchengladbach 4–1 AEK Athens
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The 1995–96 season was the 72nd season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 37th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The season began on 20 August 1995 and finished on 29 May 1996.

Supplier: Kappa
Sponsor(s): Ethniki Asfalistiki, Filmnet

Home

Away

Third

In the summer of 1995, the new major shareholder and president of the team was Michalis Trochanas. In collaboration with Dušan Bajević, he maintained the already very good existing roster and strengthened it with Batista, who returned from Olympiacos, Maladenis and Pavlopoulos. AEK had a quality player material and this was largely due to the fact that many players who were already in the team were having one of the best seasons of their careers. Bajević managing to fit all the stars of the roster in the starting eleven, built a team that seemed capable of "destroying" any domestic opponent.

In the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the team after defeating Sion in the first round they were eliminated by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the second round.

AEK played incredible football scoring 87 goals in 34 matches but finished second, behind Panathinaikos, which was much less spectacular, but proved to be slightly more substantial. During the second round, AEK lost much of their self-concentration as a team, due to the Bajević issue. The journalistic information from reports of Olympiacos, who insisted that he had agreed with Sokratis Kokkalis for his move to Olympiacos on the coming summer. Initially those rumors sounded like a joke on the side of AEK, however, the more the Bosnian-Greek coach did not deny them, the greater became the anxiety and insecurity in the club, in which Bajević was then worshiped as a god and the whole story affected the competitive part. At the same time, a big part of the issue was caused by the eccentric announcements of the idiosyncratic Michalis Trochanas, whose behavior in general was later invoked by Bajević for his eventual departure. The victory of Panathinaikos in April at the Olympic Stadium, also played an important role in the outcome of the championship.

The fantastic football that AEK played this season was rewarded by winning the Cup. A conquest that left no room for doubt, since the "yellow-blacks" after qualifying as first in their group, they eliminated with relative ease at knock-out stage Iraklis and both their rivals, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respcetivelly. In the final AEK scored a record of 7 goals against Apollon Athens, winning by 7–1, despite the dismissal of Batista at the 52nd minute.

In the end, AEK lost the championship, but the football they played during the season remained not only in the history of the club, but of Greek football in general. All the players who usually made up the starting line-up stood out, with Vasilios Tsiartas finishing as the league's top scorer with 26 goals and Kostis, Ketsbaia and Batista also scoring a double-digit number of goals.^[1]

Position	Staff
Manager	Dušan Bajević
Assistant manager	Petros Ravousis
Goalkeeping coach	Lakis Stergioudas
Fitness coach	Dimitris Bouroutzikas
Academy director	Andreas Stamatiadis
Academy manager	Apostolos Toskas
Academy manager	Giorgos Karafeskos
Scout	Aris Tsachouridis
Head of Medical	Lakis Nikolaou
Physiotherapist	Nikos Pantazis
Physiotherapist	Giorgos Psarogiannis
Caretaker	Nikos Koromilas
Caretaker	Kostas Karydopoulos

NOTE: The players are the ones that have been announced by the AEK Athens' press release. No edits should be made unless a player arrival or exit is announced. Updated 29 May 1996, 23:59 UTC+3.

Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Spyros Ikonomopoulos		GK	(1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 36)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1996
Ilias Atmatsidis		GK	(1969-04-24)24 April 1969 (aged 27)	1992	Pontioi Veria	₯40,000,000	1996
Vasilis Karagiannis		GK	(1969-09-27)27 September 1969 (aged 26)	1993	Diagoras	₯20,000,000	1998
Dionysis Chiotis		GK	(1977-06-04)4 June 1977 (aged 19)	1995	AEK Athens U20	—	2005
Defenders
Stelios Manolas (Captain)		CB / RB	(1961-07-13)13 July 1961 (aged 34)	1979	AEK Athens U20	—	1996
Georgios Koutoulas		CB / LB	(1967-02-09)9 February 1967 (aged 29)	1987	AEK Athens U20	—	1999
Michalis Vlachos (Vice-captain)		CB / DM	(1967-09-20)20 September 1967 (aged 28)	1993	Olympiacos	Free	1998
Vaios Karagiannis		LB / CB	(1968-06-25)25 June 1968 (aged 28)	1990	A.O. Karditsa	₯11,000,000	2000
Konstantinos Pavlopoulos		CB	(1968-07-02)2 July 1968 (aged 27)	1995	OFI	Free	1998
Vasilios Borbokis		RB / RM	(1969-02-10)10 February 1969 (aged 27)	1993	Apollon Kalamarias	Free	1997
Charis Kopitsis		RB / RM / LB / LM	(1969-03-05)5 March 1969 (aged 27)	1992	Panionios	Free	1997
Nikos Kostenoglou		CB / RB	(1970-10-03)3 October 1970 (aged 25)	1994	Skoda Xanthi	₯70,000,000	1998
Michalis Kasapis		LB / LM	(1971-08-06)6 August 1971 (aged 24)	1993	Levadiakos	₯25,000,000	1998
Georgios Theodoridis		CB	(1973-07-08)8 July 1973 (aged 22)	1991	Doxa Markochori	₯5,700,000	1998
Midfielders
Toni Savevski		CM / LM / DM	(1963-07-14)14 July 1963 (aged 32)	1988	Vardar	₯34,000,000	1996
Refik Šabanadžović		DM / CM / CB / RB	(1965-08-02)2 August 1965 (aged 30)	1991	Red Star Belgrade	₯18,700,000	1996
Temur Ketsbaia		RM / LM / RW / LW / AM / CM	(1968-03-18)18 March 1968 (aged 28)	1994	Anorthosis Famagusta	₯100,000,000	1997
Vasilios Tsiartas (Vice-captain 2)		AM / RM / LM / SS	(1972-11-12)12 November 1972 (aged 23)	1992	Naoussa	₯70,000,000	1997
Christos Maladenis		CM / RM / LM / AM / DM / RW / LW / SS	(1974-05-23)23 May 1974 (aged 22)	1995	Skoda Xanthi	₯100,000,000	2000
Forwards
Dimitris Saravakos		RW / LW / SS / AM	(1961-07-26)26 July 1961 (aged 34)	1994	Panathinaikos	Free	1997
Daniel Batista		ST / SS / AM	(1964-09-09)9 September 1964 (aged 31)	1995	Olympiacos	Free	1997
Vasilis Dimitriadis		ST	(1966-02-01)1 February 1966 (aged 30)	1991	Aris	₯95,000,000	1998
Christos Kostis		SS / ST / AM / RW / LW	(1972-01-15)15 January 1972 (aged 24)	1994	Iraklis	₯350,000,000	1998
Ilias Anastasakos		ST / LW / LM	(1978-03-03)3 March 1978 (aged 18)	1995	A.O. Dafniou	Free	2002
Left during Winter Transfer Window
Georgios Agorogiannis		RB / RM / RW	(1966-05-03)3 May 1966 (aged 30)	1992	AEL	₯35,000,000	1996
Stavros Stamatis		DM / CM / CB / RB / LB / AM	(1966-01-31)31 January 1966 (aged 30)	1988	Charavgiakos	₯22,000,000	1996

Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
DF	Georgios Theodoridis	Edessaikos	Loan return	1 July 1995	30 June 1998	[2]
DF	Konstantinos Pavlopoulos	OFI	Free transfer	1 July 1995	30 June 1998	[3]
MF	Christos Maladenis	Skoda Xanthi	₯100,000,000	14 June 1995	30 June 2000	[4]
MF	Pantelis Konstantinidis	Kavala	Loan return	1 July 1995	30 June 1998
FW	Daniel Batista	Olympiacos	Free transfer	1 July 1995	30 June 1997	[5]
FW	Samouil Drakopulos	PAS Giannina	Loan termination	30 August 1995	31 December 1995
FW	Ilias Anastasakos	A.O. Dafniou	Free transfer	1 July 1995	30 June 2002

Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
GK	Dionysis Chiotis	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	31 December 1995	30 June 2005
MF	Stathis Karalagas	Aiolikos	Loan return	1 January 1996	30 June 1997

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Source
DF	Manolis Papadopoulos	Apollon Athens	End of contract	13 July 1995	[6]
FW	Samouil Drakopulos	Neuchâtel Xamax	Free transfer	1 September 1995

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Source
DF	Georgios Agorogiannis	Panionios	Free transfer	14 December 1995	[7]
MF	Stavros Stamatis	Ionikos	Free transfer	1 December 1995	[8]
MF	Stathis Karalagas	Agios Dimitrios	Free transfer	2 January 1996

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
MF	Pantelis Konstantinidis	Kavala	Free	6 July 1995	30 June 1996	Y	[9]

Pos.	Player	Date	Former Exp. Date	New Exp. Date	Source
GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	16 June 1995	30 June 1995	30 June 1996	[10]
DF	Stelios Manolas	6 July 1995	30 June 1995	30 June 1996	[11]
DF	Georgios Koutoulas	30 May 1996	30 June 1996	30 June 1999	[12]
DF	Michalis Vlachos	12 June 1995	30 June 1995	30 June 1998	[13]
DF	Georgios Theodoridis	1 June 1995	30 June 1995	30 June 1998
DF	Vaios Karagiannis	1 July 1995	30 June 1996	30 June 2000
ΜF	Temur Ketsbaia	13 July 1995	30 June 1995	30 June 1997	[14]
FW	Vasilis Dimitriadis	30 May 1996	30 June 1996	30 June 1998	[15]

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Alpha Ethniki	27 August 1995	29 May 1996	Matchday 1	2nd	34	25	6	3	87	22	+65	073.53
Greek Cup	20 August 1995	15 May 1996	Group Stage	Winners	13	10	2	1	38	12	+26	076.92
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	14 September 1995	2 November 1995	First round	Second round	4	1	1	2	5	7	−2	025.00
Total					51	36	9	6	130	41	+89	070.59

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Panathinaikos (C)	34	26	5	3	72	22	+50	83	Qualification for Champions League qualifying round
2	AEK Athens	34	25	6	3	87	22	+65	81	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
3	Olympiacos	34	19	8	7	66	34	+32	65	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
4	Iraklis	34	17	7	10	51	39	+12	58	Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round
5	OFI	34	17	6	11	57	52	+5	57

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	25	6	3	87	22	+65	81	16	1	0	54	6	+48	9	5	3	33	16	+17

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PAO	AEK	PAN	OLY	ALM
1	Panathinaikos	4	4	0	0	10	2	+8	12	Round of 32			3–1	2–0	—	—
2	AEK Athens	4	3	0	1	13	6	+7	9			—		4–1	—	6–2
3	Panegialios	4	2	0	2	7	8	−1	6			—	—		3–0	3–2
4	Olympiacos Volos	4	0	1	3	3	9	−6	1			0–1	0–2	—		—
5	Almopos Aridea	4	0	1	3	9	16	−7	1			1–4	—	3–3	—

As of 29 May 1996

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		Cup Winners' Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
—	GK	Ilias Atmatsidis	30	0	11	0	4	0	45	0
—	GK	Vasilis Karagiannis	4	0	3	0	0	0	7	0
—	GK	Dionysis Chiotis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
—	DF	Stelios Manolas	22	3	9	0	3	0	34	3
—	DF	Georgios Koutoulas	4	0	5	0	1	0	10	0
—	DF	Michalis Vlachos	23	0	9	0	4	1	36	1
—	DF	Vaios Karagiannis	14	0	6	0	0	0	20	0
—	DF	Konstantinos Pavlopoulos	15	1	6	0	0	0	21	1
—	DF	Vasilios Borbokis	24	2	10	1	4	1	38	4
—	DF	Charis Kopitsis	19	1	10	1	4	0	33	2
—	DF	Nikos Kostenoglou	28	0	8	1	3	0	39	1
—	DF	Michalis Kasapis	28	0	11	0	4	0	43	0
—	DF	Georgios Theodoridis	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Midfielders
—	MF	Toni Savevski	31	2	11	0	4	0	46	2
—	MF	Refik Šabanadžović	28	3	9	1	3	0	40	4
—	MF	Temur Ketsbaia	31	14	12	4	4	1	47	19
—	MF	Vasilios Tsiartas	33	26	10	6	4	0	47	32
—	MF	Christos Maladenis	28	1	9	0	4	1	41	2
Forwards
—	FW	Dimitris Saravakos	17	1	7	4	3	0	27	5
—	FW	Daniel Batista	27	10	10	9	3	1	40	20
—	FW	Vasilis Dimitriadis	21	1	8	2	2	0	31	3
—	FW	Christos Kostis	34	19	13	8	2	0	49	27
—	FW	Ilias Anastasakos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Left during Winter Transfer Window
—	DF	Georgios Agorogiannis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
—	MF	Stavros Stamatis	1	0	2	0	0	0	3	0

As of 29 May 1996

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Cup Winners' Cup	Total
1	MF	Vasilios Tsiartas	26	6	0	32
2	FW	Christos Kostis	19	8	0	27
3	FW	Daniel Batista	10	9	1	20
4	ΜF	Temur Ketsbaia	14	4	1	19
5	FW	Dimitris Saravakos	1	4	0	5
6	MF	Refik Šabanadžović	3	1	0	4
	DF	Vasilios Borbokis	2	1	1	4
8	DF	Stelios Manolas	3	0	0	3
	FW	Vasilis Dimitriadis	1	2	0	3
10	MF	Toni Savevski	2	0	0	2
	DF	Charis Kopitsis	1	1	0	2
	MF	Christos Maladenis	1	0	1	2
13	DF	Konstantinos Pavlopoulos	1	0	0	1
	DF	Nikos Kostenoglou	0	1	0	1
	DF	Michalis Vlachos	0	0	1	1
Own goals			3	1	0	4
Totals			87	38	5	130

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition	Source
Daniel Batista	Edessaikos	5–2 (A)	9 December 1995	Alpha Ethniki	[29]
Vasilios Tsiartas	Aris	4–0 (H)	4 February 1996	Alpha Ethniki	[30]
Daniel Batista	Athinaikos	5–0 (H)	28 February 1996	Greek Cup	[31]
Vasilios Tsiartas	Ionikos	6–0 (H)	10 March 1996	Alpha Ethniki	[32]
Vasilios Tsiartas	Apollon Athens	7–1 (A)	15 May 1996	Greek Cup	[33]
Vasilios Tsiartas	Athinaikos	6–0 (H)	26 May 1996	Alpha Ethniki	[34]

The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal and then alphabetically by surname. Clean sheets in games where both goalkeepers participated are awarded to the goalkeeper who started the game. Goalkeepers with no appearances are not included.

As of 29 May 1996

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Cup Winners' Cup	Total
1	Ilias Atmatsidis	14	4	1	19
2	Vasilis Karagiannis	1	1	0	2
Totals		15	5	1	21

As of 29 May 1996

N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup			Cup Winners' Cup			Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Spyros Ikonomopoulos
—	GK		Ilias Atmatsidis	2						1			3
—	GK		Vasilis Karagiannis	1									1
—	GK		Dionysis Chiotis
Defenders
—	DF		Stelios Manolas	5		1	4	1		2			11	1	1
—	DF		Georgios Koutoulas
—	DF		Michalis Vlachos	4			3			2			9
—	DF		Vaios Karagiannis	1									1
—	DF		Konstantinos Pavlopoulos	3									3
—	DF		Vasilios Borbokis	6			1						7
—	DF		Charis Kopitsis	2			1						3
—	DF		Nikos Kostenoglou	4	1		1	1		1			6	2
—	DF		Michalis Kasapis	4	1		2						6	1
—	DF		Georgios Theodoridis
Midfielders
—	MF		Toni Savevski	2									2
—	MF		Refik Šabanadžović	4			1			1			6
—	MF		Temur Ketsbaia	4	1		1						5	1
—	MF		Vasilios Tsiartas	1			1						2
—	MF		Christos Maladenis	2			2						4
Forwards
—	FW		Dimitris Saravakos
—	FW		Daniel Batista	3			1						4
—	FW		Vasilis Dimitriadis	1									1
—	FW		Christos Kostis	2									2
—	FW		Ilias Anastasakos
Left during Winter Transfer window
—	DF		Georgios Agorogiannis
—	MF		Stavros Stamatis

Player	Pos.	Award	Source
Vasilios Tsiartas	MF	Alpha Ethiniki Top Scorer
Demis Nikolaidis	FW	Greek Cup Top Scorer
Vasilios Tsiartas	MF	Greek Player of the Season (shared)	[35]
Temur Ketsbaia	MF	Foreign Player of the Season	[35]
Dušan Bajević	—	Manager of the Season	[35]

• AEK Athens F.C. Official Website
• A.E.K. FC Database