| Club: | AEK Athens |
| Season: | 1985–86 |
| Manager: | Jacek Gmoch (until 12 June) Nikos Christidis |
| Mgrtitle: | Manager |
| Chairman: | Andreas Zafiropoulos |
| Chrtitle: | Chairman |
| League: | Alpha Ethniki |
| League Result: | 3rd |
| Cup1: | Greek Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Semi-finals |
| Cup2: | UEFA Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | First round |
| League Topscorer: | Håkan Sandberg (12) |
| Season Topscorer: | Márton Esterházy (17) |
| Highest Attendance: | 74,465 vs Olympiacos (9 February 1986) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 1,454 vs Chalkida (12 February 1986) |
| Average Attendance: | 27,584 |
| Pattern La1: | _thinblackborder |
| Pattern B1: | _blackcollar |
| Pattern Ra1: | _thinblackborder |
| Pattern So1: | _blacktop |
| Leftarm1: | FFFF00 |
| Body1: | FFFF00 |
| Rightarm1: | FFFF00 |
| Shorts1: | 000000 |
| Socks1: | FFFF00 |
| Pattern La2: | _goldstripes |
| Pattern B2: | _goldstripes_thin |
| Pattern Ra2: | _goldstripes |
| Pattern So2: | _band_black |
| Leftarm2: | FFFF00 |
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| Socks2: | FFDE00 |
| Prevseason: | 1984–85 |
| Nextseason: | 1986–87 |
The 1985–86 season was the 62nd season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 27th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup and the UEFA Cup. The season began on 8 September 1985 and finished on 23 June 1986.
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In the summer of 1985, AEK "moved" to the Athens Olympic Stadium, due to construction works at the AEK Stadium. Both Olympiacos and Panathinaikos already used the same stadium as their home ground at the time, which resulted in the introduction of league games on Saturday, so that all 3 teams could be served simultaneously. Antonis Georgiadis left the team's bench for Olympiacos, while Zafiropoulos hired Jacek Gmoch, who had won the 1984 double and he had reached the semi-finals of the European Cup with Panathinaikos. Christos Ardizoglou left the club to end his career at Apollon Athens, a team where he started his career, since for various reasons he failed to transfer to Olympiacos. In December, both Vangelis Vlachos and Lysandros Georgamlis left for Panathinaikos and greatly affected the team's later performance in the league. In the transfer period of December, AEK were strengthened with the addition of Greek-Australian expatriate, Jim Patikas.
AEK started the league with two convincing victories against PAOK and Aris, but the continuation was not proportional. The whole season was a year of successive ups and downs in the performance of the team, which could not acquire duration and rhythm. The club presented two different faces in their struggles at home and away matches. While at home they finished undefeated, but with 7 draws that knocked them out of the title race, at the away matches they gathered 7 defeats in 15 games. The team finished at the third place where they were tied with Iraklis, 7 points behind the champion Panathinaikos and 2 behind the second OFI. In the UEFA Cup, AEK were eliminated by the mighty Real Madrid, who were the eventual winners, in the first round, despite winning the first leg at Athens. In the Cup, AEK reached the semi-finals where they were eliminated by Panathinaikos in a margin. Top scorer at the league was Håkan Sandberg with 12 goals and Márton Esterházy in total with 17 goals, while Theologis Papadopoulos had a very good season. One of the few positives of that season was that AEK achieved an average league ticket record in their history with 31,254 tickets per game.[1]
However, the whole season was accompanied by the court thriller that was reserved for the end. AEK were playing in the penultimate matchday in Serres against Panserraikos. ΑΕΚ wanted the victory to stay on track for a ticket to the next season's UEFA Cup. On April 19, at the eve of the match, the general manager of AEK, Giannis Chrysovitsianos, was arrested on the accusation that he tried to bribe the players of Panserraikos, Michalis Galatidis, Giorgos Sfakianakis and Giannis Antoniadis, through Giorgos Rigas, to underperform the game. The match took place normally with Panserraikos winning by 2–0, a result that eventually did not help him avoid relegation. The result of this whole story was that the league standings were not secured, until the case was finalized. Eventually, that happened in mid-June, with AEK being punished with the deduction of 3 points, but from the next season's championship. Thus, the organizing authority decided to conduct a third place play-off match between AEK and Iraklis. Iraklis considered a scandal the decision of the punishment of AEK for next year, as well as the acquittal of OFI for the double doping of their player, Alejandro Hisis. The play-off match was set for June 23 at Volos. The delay of the conduction of the match was such that Esterházy played in the match, after competing with his national team at the FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Meanwhile Gmoch left the club, with Nikos Christidis sitting at the bench for the match. Iraklis, disagreed with the conduction of the play-off match, considering themselves wronged by the non-punishment of AEK for the current season. Nevertheless they were forced to show up in order for the club not to be punished and tried to make a parody of the match. The squad of Iraklis was consisted of only 10 players, since according to their management, the rest of the players were on vacation. At the 53rd minute and while the match was at 0–0, Iraklis were left with 6 players after Zifkas and Karaiskos were sent off, while Santexis and Adamou left injured. According to the regulation, the referee interrupted the match and was awarded 2–0 to AEK, who won the European ticket.[2]
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 23 June 1986, 23:59 UTC+3.
| Player | Nat. | Position(s) | Date of birth (Age) | Signed | Previous club | Transfer fee | Contract until | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | ||||||||
| Spyros Ikonomopoulos | GK | June 30, 1986 | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1989 | ||
| Theologis Papadopoulos | GK | June 30, 1986 | 1984 | ₯9,000,000 | 1989 | |||
| Defenders | ||||||||
| Makis Chatzis | RB / LB | June 30, 1986 | 1984 | Apollon Athens | ₯6,750,000 | 1989 | ||
| Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | RB / LB | June 30, 1986 | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1986 | ||
| Ilias Armodoros | LB | June 30, 1986 | 1985 | Ethnikos Piraeus | Free | 1990 | ||
| Takis Karagiozopoulos | CB / DM / ST | June 30, 1986 | 1981 | Veria | Free | 1991 | ||
| Polyvios Chatzopoulos | CB / DM | June 30, 1986 | 1985 | Panionios | ₯10,400,000 | 1990 | ||
| Stelios Manolas | CB / RB | June 30, 1986 | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1988 | ||
| Stefanos Porfyris | CB | June 30, 1986 | 1985 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1987 | ||
| Midfielders | ||||||||
| Pavlos Dimitriou | AM / LB | June 30, 1986 | 1985 | Panserraikos | ₯11,000,000 | 1989 | ||
| Dinos Ballis | AM / CM / DM / SS / ST / CB | June 30, 1986 | 1981 | Aris | ₯17,000,000 | 1986 | ||
| Pavlos Papaioannou |  | DM / RB / RM | June 30, 1986 | 1983 | Rodos | ₯10,000,000 | 1988 | |
| Nikos Pias | CM | June 30, 1986 | 1984 | Rodos | ₯1,350,000 | 1989 | ||
| Babis Akrivopoulos | AM / SS / ST | June 30, 1986 | 1983 | Veria | ₯8,400,000 | 1988 | ||
| Jim Patikas |  | RM / LM / RW / LW / SS | June 30, 1986 | 1985 | Sydney Croatia | ₯5,000,000 | 1988 | |
| Dimitris Stafylidis | CM | June 30, 1986 | 1985 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1988 | ||
| Forwards | ||||||||
| Thomas Mavros (Captain) | ST / LW | June 30, 1986 | 1976 | Panionios | ₯4,000,000 | 1987 | ||
| Márton Esterházy |  | SS / ST / RW / LW / AM | June 30, 1986 | 1984 | Honvéd | ₯25,000,000 | 1986 | |
| Håkan Sandberg |  | ST | June 30, 1986 | 1984 | IFK Göteborg | ₯8,000,000 | 1988 | |
| Andreas Voitsidis | ST / RW / LW | June 30, 1986 | 1984 | Kastoria | ₯2,400,000 | 1989 | ||
| Giannis Dintsikos | ST / SS / RW / LW / AM | June 30, 1986 | 1981 | Kastoria | ₯20,000,000 | 1991 | ||
| Georgios Christodoulou | ST / SS / LW | June 30, 1986 | 1985 | Akratitos | Free | 1988 | ||
| Left during Winter Transfer Window | ||||||||
| Christos Arvanitis | GK | June 30, 1986 | 1982 | Olympiacos | ₯6,000,000 | 1986 | ||
| Lysandros Georgamlis (Vice-captain) | RB / CB / DM / LB | June 30, 1986 | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1985 | ||
| Vangelis Vlachos | AM / CM | June 30, 1986 | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1989 | ||
| Michalis Pytharoulis | ST | 1984 | A.O. Agios Nikolaos | Free | 1989 | |||
| width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | From | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Fee | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Date | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Contract Until | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korinthos | Loan return | 30 June 1987 | |||||||||
| Panionios | ₯10,400,000 | 30 June 1990 | [3] | ||||||||
| AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 30 June 1987 | |||||||||
| Ethnikos Piraeus | Free transfer | 30 June 1990 | [4] | ||||||||
| AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 30 June 1988 | |||||||||
| Akratitos | Free transfer | 30 June 1988 | [5] |
| width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | From | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Fee | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Date | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Contract Until | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney Croatia | ₯5,000,000[6] | 30 November 1988 | [7] | ||||||||
| Panserraikos | ₯11,000,000 | 30 June 1989 | [8] |
| width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | To | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Fee | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Date | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egaleo | Contract termination | [9] | |||||||
| Apollon Athens | Contract termination | [10] |
| width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | To | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Fee | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Date | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympiacos | ₯6,000,000 | [11] | |||||||
| Panathinaikos | ₯9,100,000 | [12] | |||||||
| Panathinaikos | ₯16,000,000 | [13] |
| width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | To | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Fee | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Date | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | Until | Option to buy | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ionikos | Free | 30 June 1987 | [14] |
| width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | To | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Fee | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Date | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | Until | Option to buy | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vyzas Megara | Free | 30 November 1986 | [15] |
Notes
a. AEK gave as an exchange 3 players from their reserve squad and two more as a loan.
b. Plus the incomes from a friendly match between the clubs in the following summer.
c. During the previous season, Vlachos was at the end of his five-year contract and Zafiropoulos proposed a relatively small offer for a renewal, while the player had also an offer from Vardinogiannis, to move to Panathinaikos, which he accepted.[16] As the club owed him money as well he demanded to move to the "greens" on free. A court series that lasted several months began, which resulted in Vlachos moving for Panathinaikos. The cost of the transfer was ₯16,000,000 in cash plus the incomes from a friendly match between the clubs in the following summer.
| width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Date | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Former Exp. Date | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | New Exp. Date | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 June 1986 | 30 June 1991 | [17] | |||||||
| 30 June 1986 | 30 June 1988 | [18] | |||||||
| 30 June 1986 | 30 June 1991 | [19] |
Summer: ₯10,400,000
Winter: ₯16,000,000
Total: ₯26,400,000
Summer: ₯0
Winter: ₯31,100,000
Total: ₯31,100,000
Summer: ₯10,400,000
Winter: ₯15,100,000
Total: ₯4,700,000
See main article: 1985–86 Alpha Ethniki.
See main article: 1985–86 Greek Football Cup.
See main article: 1985–86 UEFA Cup.
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers|-! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders|-! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders|-! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards|-! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Left during Winter Transfer Window|-|}
| Rank | width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | Alpha Ethniki | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | Greek Cup | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | UEFA Cup | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 17 | |||||||
| 2 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 16 | |||||||
| 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 8 | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |||||||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||||||||
| 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |||||||
| 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||
| 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Own goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Totals | 42 | 22 | 1 | 65 |
Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.
| width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Against | width=70 style="background:#FFDE00 | Result | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Date | width=150 style="background:#FFDE00 | Competition | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Márton Esterházy | Ilioupoli | 10–0 (H) | 6 November 1985 | Greek Cup | [20] |
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.
| Rank | width=200 style="background:#FFDE00 | Player | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | Alpha Ethniki | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | Greek Cup | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | UEFA Cup | width=120 style="background:#FFDE00 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 13 | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||
| Totals | 12 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
|-! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers|-! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders|-! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders|-! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards|-! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Left during Winter Transfer Window|}