1996–97 AEK Athens F.C. season

AEK Athens

1996–97 season
Chairman	Michalis Trochanas (until 31 December) Giorgos Kyriopoulos
Manager	Petros Ravousis
Stadium	Nikos Goumas Stadium
Alpha Ethniki	2nd
Greek Cup	Winners
Greek Super Cup	Winners
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Christos Kostis (21) All: Christos Kostis (24)
Highest home attendance	27,200 (vs Paris Saint Germain) (20 March 1997)
Lowest home attendance	329 (vs Lykoi) (27 November 1996)
Average home league attendance	7,989
Biggest win	Athinaikos 0–7 AEK Athens
Biggest defeat	AEK Athens 0–3 Paris Saint Germain
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The 1996–97 season was the 73rd season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 38th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup, the Greek Super Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The season began on 11 August 1996 and finished on 25 May 1997.

Supplier: Kappa
Sponsor(s): Geniki Bank

Home

Away

Third

In the summer of 1996 a very important season begun for AEK Athens, since for the first time after 8 years they were called to proceed without their longest-serving manager, Dušan Bajević. With the move of Bajević to Olympiacos, Michalis Trochanas anointed his assistant and former player of AEK, Petros Ravousis, as his successor at the team's bench. At the same time, the leaguesl's top scorer, Vasilios Tsiartas was sold to Sevilla, while Refik Šabanadžović followed Bajević to Olympiacos, after his contact with AEK was expired. Furthermore, since before the end of the previous season, Dimitris Saravakos had decided to depart from the club and Spyros Ikonomopoulos ended his career after 19 years of service. On the other hand, AEK among the arrivals was the signing of the rising star from Apollon Athens, Demis Nikolaidis, who turned out the offer of Olympiacos, in order to join the team that he supported from childhood.^[1]

On 17 August, AEK played in the Super Cup facing Panathinaikos. The yellow-blacks took the lead at the 88th minute with Savevski, but they were equalized in the 90th minute by Alexoudis and the match went to extra time. Michalis Vlachos was sent-off between the 2 goals and AEK played with 10 players for the rest of the match. The score remained in extra time and the match went to the penalty shoot-out. After many penalties were taken, AEK were the eventual winners, with 8–9 and Kopitsis scoring for a second time from the spot.

The team was in a "frantic tempo" from the previous season and played impressive football. For a second season in a row they had the best attack in the league, but again finished in second place. However, both AEK and most of the clubs of the league had intense complaints about the favorable treatment by the referees to Olympiacos throughout the season, since at that time was the beginning of the well-known "shack" of Greek football. By far the most important moment of the season was the return of Bajević to Nea Filadelfeia on 13 January. The stadium was packed again, the match went on as usual and the AEK fans created an incredible atmosphere of hatred and thirst for revenge against their former favorite coach. Banknotes with the image of Bajević were falling on the coach of Olympiacos, abusive slogans, insulting banners, composed a very strongly electrified atmosphere. Eventually, in a match where the players of AEK "deposited their souls" and the crowd was the "twelfth player", AEK won in the muddy pitch by 2–0.^[1] The biggest victories of the season for the championship were the 0–7 against Athinaikos, the 6–1 against Iraklis, Kalamata and Athinaikos once again. Towards the end of the season, Trochanas started causing issues with his announcements, since he went against Ravousis due to the exclusion of the team in Europe and the football department was once again a mess resulting in the latter's departure at the end of the season.

In the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, AEK were still redeeming their return to the elite of European football with good draws. This time, their opponent were the Slovakian Chemlon Humenné. The first match in Athens ended with a 1–0 win and qualification remained open. The rematch in the weather-heavy Humenné started in the worst possible way, as the Slovak took the lead scoring in their first attack after 19 seconds and everything showed to another very tense European game by AEK. However, the capacity difference was so great and as soon as AEK overcame the shock of goal, the qualification case ended with quick procedures as they complete the comeback by the end of the first half. In the second round, AEK came across Olimpija Ljubljana. Ravousis made it clear to the players that this time there was no place for underestimation and indifference and AEK presented themselves extremely serious at the Bežigrad Stadium winning with 0–2 and finishing the qualification. The Slovenians step on the pitch of Nea Filadelfeia and for the first time in their career face a fanatical crowd that pushed AEK into the spectacle and end up losing with the 4–0, despite defending massively. AEK advanced to the third round and participated in the March draw where the major European clubs were present. Paris was painted yellow and black as the draw brought the title holder, Paris Saint-Germain as the opponent of AEK and 5,000 Greeks rushed to the Parc des Princes to support AEK. Michel Platini was commentating on the pitch, who along with 40,000 French people, was watching the two stands of the Greeks who create an amazing atmosphere. AEK presented with defensive orientations and Manolas, perhaps in his last big game with, AEK kept and even loses chances on the counter, since the French are impossible to hold Ketsbaia and Batista. The game ended scoreless, and during the following 15 days, everyone's mind was on the rematch in Athens. Nikos Goumas Stadium was suffocating two hours before the game on 20 March, AEK entered the match offensively and pressed for a goal. In the 21st minute, the referee did not whistle Loko's foul on Vlachos and the Frenchman was unmarked and scored. AEK tried to react, their audience continued to push them relentlessly, but the goal did not come and instead came the second goal for Paris, again with Loko, just before half-time. The qualification was, AEK were doing everything they could to avoid defeat and with Ravousis' desperate attempt to get something good from the match was left very exposed at the back, as a result of which conceded a third goal, again from Patris Loko, ten minutes before the final whistle.

For the Cup, AEK first went through the first round without a match and then very easily eliminated Skoda Xanthi. Then, had an easy task against the ILTEX Lykoi, which he confirmed on the pitch. In the quarter-finals, they played against Paniliakos, beating him in Nikos Goumas Stadium with 3–1, while easily defeating him in Pyrgos Stadium with 0–2. In the semi-finals, AEK faced Olympiacos of Bajević, who returned to Nea Filadelfeia for the second time within a month! The "welcoming" of the Bosnian and Olympiacos was again very heated, AEK again played an incredibly spirited match and led with 2 goals. However, Olympiacos re-entered the qualification game, after a goal by Alexandris in stoppage time. In the rematch in Piraeus, Olympiacos pressed, AEK defended properly and in a nice counterattack in the 47th minute, Ketsbaia made a huge distance with the ball at his feet and finally gave an open goal to Nikolaidis who did not miss the chance to score. The yellow-blacks then kept the score and advance, although again they played with a player short due to the dismissal of Manolas. Thus, AEK advanced to the final of the competition for the fourth season in a row. The final against Panathinaikos took place on 16 April at the Karaiskakis Stadium, in a particularly nervous game which ended without goals both in regular time and in extra time. In the penalty shoot-out, AEK finally got the big victory and the trophy with Atmatsidis as their protagonist, who also scored the last penalty of AEK.

Top scorer of the season for the team was Christos Kostis with 21 goals, while Demis Nikolaidis scored 19 goals. Apart from these two players, Ketsbaia, Manolas, Savevski, Batista, Atmatsidis, Kasapis and Borbokis had also an excellent performance.^[2]

Position	Staff
Manager	Petros Ravousis
Assistant manager	Apostolos Toskas
Goalkeeping coach	Lakis Stergioudas
Fitness coach	Georgios Vamvakas
Academy director	Andreas Stamatiadis
Academy manager	Stelios Serafidis
Academy manager	Giorgos Karafeskos
Analyst	Nikos Christidis
Scout	Aris Tsachouridis
Head of Medical	Lakis Nikolaou
Physiotherapist	Nikos Pantazis
Physiotherapist	Giorgos Psarogiannis
Physiotherapist	Stavros Toilos
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 25 May 1997, 23:59 UTC+3.

Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Ilias Atmatsidis (Vice-captain 2)		GK	(1969-04-24)24 April 1969 (aged 28)	1992	Pontioi Veria	₯40,000,000	1999
Vasilis Karagiannis		GK	(1969-09-27)27 September 1969 (aged 27)	1993	Diagoras	₯20,000,000	1998
Dionysis Chiotis		GK	(1977-06-04)4 June 1977 (aged 20)	1995	AEK Athens U20	—	2005
Defenders
Stelios Manolas (Vice-captain)		CB / RB	(1961-07-13)13 July 1961 (aged 35)	1979	AEK Athens U20	—	1997
Anton Doboș		CB	(1965-10-13)13 October 1965 (aged 31)	1996	Steaua București	₯60,000,000	1999
Georgios Koutoulas		CB / LB	(1967-02-09)9 February 1967 (aged 30)	1987	AEK Athens U20	—	1999
Michalis Vlachos (Vice-captain 3)		CB / DM	(1967-09-20)20 September 1967 (aged 29)	1993	Olympiacos	Free	1997
Vaios Karagiannis		LB / CB	(1968-06-25)25 June 1968 (aged 29)	1990	A.O. Karditsa	₯11,000,000	2000
Konstantinos Pavlopoulos		CB	(1968-07-02)2 July 1968 (aged 28)	1995	OFI	Free	1998
Vasilios Borbokis		RB / RM	(1969-02-10)10 February 1969 (aged 28)	1993	Apollon Kalamarias	Free	1997
Charis Kopitsis		RB / RM / LB / LM	(1969-03-05)5 March 1969 (aged 28)	1992	Panionios	Free	1997
Nikos Kostenoglou		CB / RB	(1970-10-03)3 October 1970 (aged 26)	1994	Skoda Xanthi	₯70,000,000	1998
Michalis Kasapis (Captain)		LB / LM	(1971-08-06)6 August 1971 (aged 25)	1993	Levadiakos	₯25,000,000	1998
Midfielders
Toni Savevski		CM / LM / DM	(1963-07-14)14 July 1963 (aged 33)	1988	Vardar	₯34,000,000	1999
Temur Ketsbaia		RM / LM / RW / LW / AM / CM	(1968-03-18)18 March 1968 (aged 29)	1994	Anorthosis Famagusta	₯100,000,000	1997
Triantafyllos Macheridis		DM / CB / RB / LB	(1973-11-10)10 November 1973 (aged 23)	1996	Skoda Xanthi	₯100,000,000	2001
Christos Maladenis		CM / RM / LM / AM / DM / RW / LW / SS	(1974-05-23)23 May 1974 (aged 23)	1995	Skoda Xanthi	₯100,000,000	2000
Mattheos Platakis		AM / ST / SS	(1977-06-30)30 June 1977 (aged 20)	1996	Phinikas Polichini	Free	2000
Forwards
Daniel Batista		ST / SS / AM	(1964-09-09)9 September 1964 (aged 32)	1995	Olympiacos	Free	1998
Marcelo Veridiano		ST / SS	(1966-06-30)30 June 1966 (aged 31)	1996	Skoda Xanthi	₯35,000,000	1998
Christos Kostis		SS / ST / AM / RW / LW	(1972-01-15)15 January 1972 (aged 25)	1994	Iraklis	₯350,000,000	1998
Giorgos Kartalis		ST / SS	(1972-05-02)2 May 1972 (aged 25)	1996	Triglia Rafinas	₯4,000,000	2001
Demis Nikolaidis		ST / SS	(1973-09-17)17 September 1973 (aged 23)	1996	Apollon Athens	₯330,000,000	1999
Ilias Anastasakos		ST / LW / LM	(1978-03-03)3 March 1978 (aged 19)	1995	A.O. Dafniou	Free	2002
Left during Winter Transfer Window
Vasilis Dimitriadis		ST	(1966-02-01)1 February 1966 (aged 31)	1991	Aris	₯95,000,000	1998

Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
DF	Anton Doboș	Steaua București	₯60,000,000[3]	11 July 1996	30 June 1999	[4]
MF	Triantafyllos Macheridis	Skoda Xanthi	₯100,000,000	7 June 1996	30 June 1999	[5]
MF	Pantelis Konstantinidis	Kavala	Loan return	1 July 1996	30 June 1998	[6]
MF	Mattheos Platakis	Phinikas Polichini	Free transfer	31 July 1996	30 June 2000	[7]
FW	Giorgos Kartalis	Triglia Rafinas	₯4,000,000	13 October 1996	30 June 2001	[8]
FW	Demis Nikolaidis	Apollon Athens	₯330,000,000[a]	20 June 1996	30 June 1999	[9]
FW	Marcelo Veridiano	Skoda Xanthi	₯35,000,000	2 July 1996	30 June 1998	[10]

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Source
GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	Retired		1 July 1996	[11]
MF	Refik Šabanadžović	Olympiacos	End of contract	1 July 1996	[12]
MF	Pantelis Konstantinidis	Apollon Athens	Free transfer	20 June 1996	[9]
MF	Vasilios Tsiartas	Sevilla	₯500,000,000[b][13]	6 June 1996	[14]
FW	Dimitris Saravakos	Free agent	Contract termination	1 July 1996	[15][16]

Notes

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Source
FW	Vasilis Dimitriadis	Aris	Contract termination	30 January 1997	[18][19]

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
DF	Georgios Theodoridis	Edessaikos	Free	12 July 1996	30 June 1997	N	[20]

Pos.	Player	Date	Former Exp. Date	New Exp. Date	Source
GK	Ilias Atmatsidis	1 July 1996	30 June 1996	30 June 1999
DF	Stelios Manolas	18 July 1996	30 June 1996	30 June 1997	[21]
DF	Michalis Vlachos	23 May 1997	30 June 1997	30 June 2000	[22][23]
MF	Toni Savevski	1 July 1996	30 June 1996	30 June 1999	[24]
FW	Daniel Batista	23 May 1997	30 June 1997	30 June 1998	[25][26]

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Alpha Ethniki	8 September 1996	25 May 1997	Matchday 1	2nd	34	22	6	6	75	28	+47	064.71
Greek Cup	3 October 1996	16 April 1997	Round of 32	Winners	9	7	2	0	22	6	+16	077.78
Greek Super Cup	17 August 1996		Final	Winners	1	0	1	0	1	1	+0	000.00
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	12 September 1996	20 March 1997	First round	Quarter-finals	6	4	1	1	9	4	+5	066.67
Total					50	33	10	7	107	39	+68	066.00

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Olympiacos (C)	34	26	6	2	72	14	+58	84	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	AEK Athens	34	22	6	6	75	28	+47	72	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
3	OFI	34	20	6	8	51	28	+23	66	Qualification for UEFA Cup second qualifying round
4	PAOK	34	19	9	6	53	28	+25	66
5	Panathinaikos	34	20	4	10	60	25	+35	64

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	22	6	6	75	28	+47	72	15	0	2	47	12	+35	7	6	4	28	16	+12

AEK Athens entered the Greek Cup at the round of 32.

As of 25 May 1997

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		Greek Super Cup		Cup Winners' Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Ilias Atmatsidis	31	0	8	0	1	0	6	0	46	0
—	GK	Vasilis Karagiannis	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
—	GK	Dionysis Chiotis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
—	DF	Stelios Manolas	23	2	6	2	1	0	6	0	36	4
—	DF	Anton Doboș	22	2	7	0	1	0	4	0	34	2
—	DF	Georgios Koutoulas	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
—	DF	Michalis Vlachos	25	1	7	1	1	0	5	0	38	2
—	DF	Vaios Karagiannis	14	0	6	0	0	0	2	0	22	0
—	DF	Konstantinos Pavlopoulos	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
—	DF	Vasilios Borbokis	27	4	6	0	1	0	6	0	40	4
—	DF	Charis Kopitsis	29	2	7	0	1	0	5	0	42	2
—	DF	Nikos Kostenoglou	29	0	7	0	0	0	5	0	41	0
—	DF	Michalis Kasapis	30	1	6	2	1	0	6	0	43	3
Midfielders
—	MF	Toni Savevski	33	4	8	0	1	1	6	1	48	6
—	MF	Temur Ketsbaia	30	5	7	5	1	0	6	1	44	11
—	MF	Triantafyllos Macheridis	15	0	6	0	0	0	2	0	23	0
—	MF	Christos Maladenis	22	0	5	0	1	0	5	1	33	1
—	MF	Mattheos Platakis	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Forwards
—	FW	Daniel Batista	21	7	5	2	1	0	5	3	32	12
—	FW	Marcelo Veridiano	27	6	8	3	1	0	3	0	39	9
—	FW	Christos Kostis	34	21	8	1	1	0	5	2	48	24
—	FW	Giorgos Kartalis	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
—	FW	Demis Nikolaidis	31	19	7	3	1	0	6	1	45	23
—	FW	Ilias Anastasakos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Left during Winter Transfer Window
—	FW	Vasilis Dimitriadis	5	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	8	3

As of 25 May 1997

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Greek Super Cup	Cup Winners' Cup	Total
1	FW	Christos Kostis	21	1	0	2	24
2	FW	Demis Nikolaidis	19	3	0	1	23
3	FW	Daniel Batista	7	2	0	3	12
4	ΜF	Temur Ketsbaia	5	5	0	1	11
5	FW	Marcelo Veridiano	6	3	0	0	9
6	MF	Toni Savevski	4	0	1	1	6
7	DF	Vasilios Borbokis	4	0	0	0	4
	DF	Stelios Manolas	2	2	0	0	4
9	DF	Michalis Kasapis	1	2	0	0	3
	FW	Vasilis Dimitriadis	0	3	0	0	3
11	DF	Anton Doboș	2	0	0	0	2
	DF	Charis Kopitsis	2	0	0	0	2
	DF	Michalis Vlachos	1	1	0	0	2
14	MF	Christos Maladenis	0	0	0	1	1
Own goals			1	0	0	0	1
Totals			75	22	1	9	107

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition	Source
Temur Ketsbaia	Skoda Xanthi	5–0 (H)	3 October 1996	Greek Cup
Demis Nikolaidis	Kalamata	3–0 (A)	21 October 1996	Alpha Ethniki
Demis Nikolaidis5	Kalamata	6–1 (A)	23 February 1997	Alpha Ethniki	[37]
Christos Kostis	Aris	5–1 (H)	27 March 1997	Alpha Ethniki	[38]

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 25 May 1997

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Greek Super Cup	Cup Winners' Cup	Total
1	Ilias Atmatsidis	12	5	0	4	21
2	Vasilis Karagiannis	1	0	0	0	1
Totals		13	5	0	4	22

As of 25 May 1997

N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup			Greek Super Cup			Cup Winners' Cup			Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Ilias Atmatsidis	1		1	1									2		1
—	GK		Vasilis Karagiannis	1												1
—	GK		Dionysis Chiotis
Defenders
—	DF		Stelios Manolas	9	1		1	1		1			1			12	2
—	DF		Anton Doboș	6			1									7
—	DF		Georgios Koutoulas
—	DF		Michalis Vlachos	1			2		1		1					3	1	1
—	DF		Vaios Karagiannis	6	1											6	1
—	DF		Konstantinos Pavlopoulos	1												1
—	DF		Vasilios Borbokis	6			1						1			8
—	DF		Charis Kopitsis	2			3			1			1			7
—	DF		Nikos Kostenoglou	7	1		3						2			12	1
—	DF		Michalis Kasapis	7			2									9
Midfielders
—	MF		Toni Savevski	2									1			3
—	MF		Temur Ketsbaia	7			2						1			10
—	MF		Triantafyllos Macheridis	2	1		3									5	1
—	MF		Christos Maladenis	1									2			3
—	MF		Mattheos Platakis
Forwards
—	FW		Daniel Batista	4					1				1			5		1
—	FW		Marcelo Veridiano	1												1
—	FW		Christos Kostis	1												1
—	FW		Giorgos Kartalis
—	FW		Demis Nikolaidis	7			1			1			1			10
—	FW		Ilias Anastasakos
Left during Winter Transfer window
—	FW		Vasilis Dimitriadis				1									1

Player	Pos.	Award	Source
Christos Kostis	FW	Greek Player of the Season (shared)	[39]
Demis Nikolaidis	FW	Greek Player of the Season (shared)	[39]

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