1996–97 AEK Athens F.C. season explained

Club:AEK Athens
Season:1996–97
Manager:Petros Ravousis
Mgrtitle:Manager
Chairman:Michalis Trochanas
(until 31 December)
Giorgos Kiriopoulos
Chrtitle:Chairman
League:Alpha Ethniki
League Result:2nd
Cup1:Greek Cup
Cup1 Result:Winners
Cup2:Greek Super Cup
Cup2 Result:Winners
Cup3 Result:Quarter-finals
League Topscorer:
Christos Kostis (21)
Season Topscorer:
Christos Kostis (24)
Highest Attendance:27,200 (vs Paris Saint Germain)
(20 March 1997)
Lowest Attendance:329 (vs Lykoi)
(27 November 1996)
Average Attendance:8,019
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Prevseason:1995–96
Nextseason:1997–98

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.

Kits

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Overview

A very important season for AEK Athens, since for the first time after 8 years the club was called to play without their coach-leader for the previous years, Dušan Bajević, after his move to Olympiacos. In the summer of 1996, with Bajević gone, Michalis Trochanas anointed his until then assistant and former player of AEK, Petros Ravousis, as his successor. At the same time, the major shareholder of AEK decided to sell last year's top scorer of the team and the league, Vasilios Tsiartas, to Sevilla, while the contract of Refik Šabanadžović was expired and he followed with Bajević to Olympiacos as well. Dimitris Saravakos also left and Spyros Ikonomopoulos ended his career after 19 years of presence at the club. On the other hand, they acquired the rising star of Apollon Athens, Demis Nikolaidis, while also making some more useful transfers.[1]

On 17 August, AEK played for the Super Cup against 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 "acquired speed" from the previous season, they played very good football and again, they had the best attack in the league, but they finished in second place. However, both AEK and most of the teams in the league have very strong complaints about the treatment of Olympiacos had received from the referees throughout the season, since at that time we also have 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 Bosnian coach. Banknotes with the image of Bajević were falling on the coach of Olympiacos, abusive slogans, insulting banners, composed a very strongly electrified atmosphere. Finally, in a match where the players of AEK "deposited their souls" and the crowd was the "twelfth player", AEK won in the muddy pitch with 2–0.[1] 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, Michalis Trochanas created new problems 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 seasons.

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 the fluid 1–0 and qualification remained open. The rematch in the weather-heavy Humenné started in the worst possible way, as the Slovaks in their first attack scored 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]

Management team

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Players

Squad information

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.

PlayerNat.Position(s)Date of birth (Age)SignedPrevious clubTransfer feeContract until
Goalkeepers
Ilias AtmatsidisGKJune 30, 19971992 Pontioi VeriaFree1999
Vasilis KaragiannisGKJune 30, 19971993 DiagorasFree2000
Dionysis ChiotisGKJune 30, 19971994 AEK Athens U202005
Defenders
Stelios Manolas (Captain)CB / RBJune 30, 19971979 AEK Athens U201997
Anton DoboșCBJune 30, 19971996 Steaua BucureștiFree1999
Georgios KoutoulasCB / LBJune 30, 19971987 AEK Athens U201999
Michalis VlachosCB / DMJune 30, 19971993 OlympiacosFree1997
Vaios KaragiannisLB / CBJune 30, 19971990 A.O. KarditsaFree2000
Konstantinos PavlopoulosCBJune 30, 19971995 OFIFree1998
Vasilios BorbokisRB / RMJune 30, 19971993 Apollon KalamariasFree1997
Charis KopitsisRB / RM / LB / LMJune 30, 19971992 PanioniosFree1998
Nikos KostenoglouCB / RBJune 30, 19971994 Skoda Xanthi₯100,000,0001998
Michalis KasapisLB / LMJune 30, 19971993 Levadiakos₯50,000,0001998
Midfielders
Toni Savevski (Vice-captain)CM / LM / DMJune 30, 19971988 Vardar₯34,000,0001999
Temur KetsbaiaRM / LM / RW / LW / AM / CMJune 30, 19971994 Anorthosis Famagusta₯200,000,0001997
Triantafyllos MacheridisDM / CBJune 30, 19971996 Skoda XanthiFree1999
Christos MaladenisCM / RM / LM / AM / RW / LW / SSJune 30, 19971995 Skoda Xanthi₯120,000,0002000
Mattheos PlatakisAMJune 30, 19971996 AEK Athens U201999
Forwards
Daniel BatistaST / SS / AMJune 30, 19971995 OlympiacosFree1997
Marcelo VeridianoST / SSJune 30, 19971996 Skoda XanthiFree1998
Christos KostisSS / ST / AM / RW / LWJune 30, 19971994 Iraklis₯450,000,0001998
Giorgos KartalisSSJune 30, 19971996 Aris PetroupolisFree1997
Demis NikolaidisST / SSJune 30, 19971996 Apollon Athens₯288,000,0001999
Ilias AnastasakosSTJune 30, 19971995 A.O. DafniouFree2002
Left during Winter Transfer Window
Vasilis DimitriadisSTJune 30, 19971991 Aris₯95,000,0001997

Transfers

In

Summer

width=200 style="background:#FFDE00Playerwidth=200 style="background:#FFDE00Fromwidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00Feewidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00Datewidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00Contract UntilSource
Steaua BucureștiFree transfer30 June 1999
Skoda XanthiFree transfer30 June 1999
KavalaLoan return30 June 1996
AEK Athens U20Promotion30 June 1999
Aris PetroupolisFree transfer30 June 1997
Apollon Athens₯288,000,00030 June 1999[3]
Skoda XanthiFree transfer30 June 1998

a. plus Pantelis Konstantinidis.

Out

Summer

width=200 style="background:#FFDE00Playerwidth=200 style="background:#FFDE00Towidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00Feewidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00DateSource
align=center colspan=2Retired[4]
EdessaikosEnd of contract
OlympiacosEnd of contract
Apollon AthensFree transfer
Ethnikos KateriniFree transfer
Sevilla₯500,000,000[5]
Free agentContract termination[6]

Winter

width=200 style="background:#FFDE00Playerwidth=200 style="background:#FFDE00Towidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00Feewidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00DateSource
ArisFree transfer

Loan out

Summer

width=200 style="background:#FFDE00Playerwidth=200 style="background:#FFDE00Towidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00Feewidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00Datewidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00UntilOption to buySource
AtromitosFree30 June 1997

Contract renewals

width=200 style="background:#FFDE00Playerwidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00Datewidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00Former Exp. Datewidth=150 style="background:#FFDE00New Exp. DateSource
30 June 199630 June 1997[7]
30 June 199630 June 1999

Overall transfer activity

Expenditure

Summer: ₯288,000,000

Winter: ₯0

Total: ₯288,000,000

Income

Summer: ₯500,000,000

Winter: ₯0

Total: ₯500,000,000

Net Totals

Summer: ₯212,000,000

Winter: ₯0

Total: ₯212,000,000

Competitions

Alpha Ethniki

See main article: 1996–97 Alpha Ethniki.

Fixtures

Greek Cup

See main article: 1996–97 Greek Football Cup.

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

Final

Greek Super Cup

See main article: Greek Super Cup.

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

See main article: 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

Quarter-finals

Statistics

Squad statistics

! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers|-! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders|-! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders|-! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards|-! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Left during Winter Transfer Window|-|}

Goalscorers

Rankwidth=200 style="background:#FFDE00Playerwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Alpha Ethnikiwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Greek Cupwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Greek Super Cupwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Cup Winners' Cupwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Total
12110224
21930123
3720312
4550111
563009
640116
740004
22004
912003
03003
1120002
20002
11002
1400011
Own goals10001
Totals 75 22 1 9107

Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

width=200 style="background:#FFDE00Playerwidth=200 style="background:#FFDE00Against width=70 style="background:#FFDE00Result width=150 style="background:#FFDE00Date width=150 style="background:#FFDE00Competition Source
Temur Ketsbaia Skoda Xanthi5–0 (H)3 October 1996Greek Cup
Demis Nikolaidis Kalamata3–0 (A)21 October 1996Alpha Ethniki
Demis Nikolaidis5 Kalamata6–1 (A)23 February 1997Alpha Ethniki[8]
Christos Kostis Aris5–1 (H)27 March 1997Alpha Ethniki[9]

Clean sheets

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.

Rankwidth=200 style="background:#FFDE00Playerwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Alpha Ethnikiwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Greek Cupwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Greek Super Cupwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Cup Winners' Cupwidth=120 style="background:#FFDE00Total
11250421
210001
Totals13 5 0 422

Disciplinary record

|-! colspan="20" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers|-! colspan="20" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders|-! colspan="20" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders|-! colspan="20" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards|-! colspan="20" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Left during Winter Transfer window|}

Starting 11

FormationMatchday(s)
414–3–31–3, 5–34
13–5–24
Player
Ilias AtmatsidisGK
Stelios Manolas (C)RCB
Nikos KostenoglouLCB
Vasilios BorbokisRB
Michalis KasapisLB
Michalis VlachosDM
Christos MaladenisRCM
Toni SavevskiLCM
Temur KetsbaiaRW
Christos KostisLW
Demis NikolaidisCF

Awards

PlayerAwardSource
Christos KostisFWGreek Player of the Season (shared)[10]
Demis NikolaidisFWGreek Player of the Season (shared)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Η επιστροφή Μπάγεβιτς στη Φιλαδέλφεια. contra.gr.
  2. Web site: Περίοδος 1996-1997. 22 May 2015. aekpedia.com. el.
  3. Web site: Ο Ντέμης στην ΑΕΚ!. oldfootball.gr.
  4. Web site: Ο τελευταίος χορός του Οικονομόπουλου. 29 December 2017. enwsi.gr. Online. el.
  5. Web site: Βασίλης Τσιάρτας ο "μάγος" της Σεβίλλης. sport24.gr. 28 July 2020. Online. el.
  6. Web site: Δημήτρης Σαραβάκος. taexopareikranio.gr. Online. el.
  7. newspaper Athletic Echo 19/7/1996 pages 1, 5
  8. Web site: Όταν ο Ντέμης Nικολαϊδης έβγαλε το... πεντάσφαιρο!. 23 February 2023. aek365.org. Online. el.
  9. Web site: ΑΕΚ-Άρης: Το χατ τρικ του Κωστή. 5 February 2021. aek365.org. Online. el.
  10. Web site: Kathimerini Page 15. 31 December 1997. Kathimerini. el. https://web.archive.org/web/20120131042620/http://wwk.kathimerini.gr/kath/edition/1997/30-12-1997.pdf. 31 January 2012. dead.