History of AEK Athens F.C.

Konstantinos Spanoudis, first president of AEK

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: Athens Championship: 3 (1925, 1927, 1929)

AEK's squad in 1924

AEK's team in 1925

In 1924, the founders of AEK – a group of Constantinopolitan refugees (among them former athletes from the Pera Sports Club and the other Constantinopolitan clubs) – met at the athletic shop "Lux" of Emilios Ionas and Konstantinos Dimopoulos on Veranzerou Street, in the center of Athens and created AEK.[2] Their intention was to create a club that provided athletic and cultural diversions for the thousands of predominantly Constantinopolitan and Anatolian refugees who had settled in the new suburbs of Athens (including Nea Filadelfeia, Nea Ionia, Nea Chalkidona, Nea Smyrni).

AEK's first game was a 1–1 friendly draw against Atromitos in October 1924. Their first official match was a 4–2 win against Goudi on 14 December 1924.

AEK's football team grew rapidly in popularity during the 1920s, eclipsing the already-established Athens-based refugee clubs (Panionios, Apollon Smyrnis), thanks mainly to the large pool of immigrants that were drawn to the club and due, in no small part, to the political connections and wealth of several of the club's board members. Not possessing a football ground, AEK played most of their early matches at various locations around Athens, including the grounds of the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Leoforos Alexandras Stadium.

AEK's first president, Konstantinos Spanoudis (1871–1941), a journalist and associate of the then Greek Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, petitioned the government to set aside land for the establishment of a sports ground. In 1926, land in Nea Filadelfeia that was originally set aside for refugee housing was donated as a training ground for the refugees. AEK began using the ground for training (albeit unofficially) and by 1930 the property was signed over to the club.

In 1927 Panathinaikos, Olympiacos and AEK decided to break away from the Athens regional league after a dispute with the fledgling Hellenic Football Federation (EPO). They formed an alliance called P.O.K. (acronym for Podosfairikes Omades Kentrou or Panathinaikos Olympiacos Konstantinoupolis) and started organising friendly matches against each other and several continental European clubs. This also marked the start of the so-called Easter Cup. In 1928, though, the dispute ended and AEK, along with the other P.O.K. clubs, entered the HFF fold once again.

In 1928, Venizelos approved the plans to build what was to become the club's home ground for the next 70 years, the AEK Stadium.

Iliaskos, Dimopoulos, Negrepontis and Emmanouilidis.

Chatzistavridis, Tzanetis, Maropoulos and Christodoulou (1939–40)

Honours Won: Greek Cup: 2 (1931–32, 1938–39), Easter Cup: 1 (1938), Panhellenic Championship: 2 (1938–39, 1939–40), Athens Championship: 1 (1940)

Runner-up: Athens Championship: 5 (1930, 1931, 1937, 1938, 1939)

In 1930 the AEK Stadium was completed. The area where the stadium was located had been previously used as the training ground of the club. The first home game, in November 1930, was an exhibition match against Olympiacos that ended in a 2–2 draw.

In 1932, AEK won the inaugural Greek Cup, beating Aris 5–3 in the final. The goals for AEK were scored by Ilias Iliaskos, Nikos Baltas (twice), Oikonomou (O.G.) and Kostas Negrepontis, a veteran of the original Pera Club of Constantinople. This was also the first ever title won by the club.

In 1933, former star striker, Kostas Negrepontis took over the managerial guidance of AEK. He managed to build a formidable team which was led by Kleanthis Maropoulos and Tryfon Tzanetis, the best pair of forwards at the time and one of the best in Greek football's history. Other important players included Christos Ribas, Michalis Delavinias, Georgios Magiras and Spyros Sklavounos.

The club's success during the late 1930s was highlighted by the Panhellenic Championships in 1939 and 1940. The 2–1 win in the 1939 cup final, goals by Alekos Chatzistavridis and Vasilios Manettas, marked the first ever double (domestic Championship and Cup) in the history of Greek football.

Honours Won: Christmas Cup: 1 (1943) Easter Cup: 1 (1944)

Runner-up: —

The 1940–41 Panhellenic Championship was interrupted due to the Greco-Italian War (1940–1941). After the Battle of Greece (1941) and during the Axis occupation of Greece (1941–1945) sporting events were scarce.

During the Greco-Italian War in a battle at Pogradec, AEK player K. Vavanis was badly injured by a mortar bomb that exploded in front of him. During the spring of 1942 Panathinaikos and AEK were to give a friendly match to raise money for a hospital but were asked to give part of the revenue to the occupation forces. Tasos Kritikos and Kleanthis Maropoulos, who served as captains of the two clubs, refused and the 15,000 spectators turned into one of the largest protests of the time. The game became known as the "Resistance Derby". In June 1944 AEK player Spyros Kontoulis was killed by the Nazi forces during his attempt to escape while being transported to Kaisariani in order to be executed for being part of the resistance.[3]

The 1942–43 Panhellenic Championship was an attempt to restart sporting activity but was not completed.

Honours Won: Athens Championship: 3 (1946, 1947, 1950), Christmas Cup: 1 (1947), Greek Cup: 2 (1949, 1950)

Runner-up: Panhellenic Championship: 1 (1946), Greek Cup: 1 (1948), Athens Championship: 2 (1951, 1952)

With English coach Jack Beby at the wheel, veteran players such as Maropoulos, Tzanetis, Delavinias and Magiras, along with new generation players such as Kostas Poulis, Goulios and Pavlos Emmanouilidis, AEK won the Greek Cup of 1949 and 1950, beating Panathinaikos by 2–1 and Aris by 4–0.

AEK won also the Athens regional championship of 1950, but the play–off games for the Panhellenic Championship were not played, due to many players being called up for a prolonged training camp for the national team.

Honours Won: Christmas Cup: 1 (1957), Greek Cup: 1 (1956), Easter Cup: 2 (1955, 1958)

Runner-up: Panhellenic Championship: 2 (1958, 1959), Greek Cup: 1 (1953), Athens Championship: 2 (1954, 1958)

The early 1950s saw the addition of the next generation of star footballers in Giannis Kanakis, Andreas Stamatiadis and goalkeeper Stelios Serafidis and along with Poulis and Emmanouilidis.

In 1955 AEK signed Kostas Nestoridis, a player who would become the greatest forward of his era. His former team Panionios did not consent with the transfer, so Nestoridis was forced to sit out both the 1955–56 and the 1956–57 seasons, due to the restraining law which applied at the time. In his first season at the club Nestoridis showing his class, finished as the top scorer of the league.

AEK won the Greek Cup title of 1956, this time beating Olympiacos by 2–1 in the final.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1960)

1959–60 season

In the first season of the newly formed Alpha Ethniki, AEK under the Austrian Lukas Aurednik, were strengthened with the left back, Petros Stamatelopoulos from Panerythraikos, the striker turned into a defender, Giannis Marditsis from Egaleo and the left wing-back, Alekos Sofianidis, a Greek born in Turkey and played for Beşiktaş. Kostas Poulis left the club after 11 years for Propontis Chalkida, as well as Lelos Adamantidis, Stavros Giafaloglou and Giannis Chaniotis. In the first matchday on 25 October, the captain of AEK, Giannis Kanakis became the scorer of the first ever goal of the institution, scoring in the 3rd minute of the first matchday against Ethnikos Piraeus. The end of the championship found AEK and Panathinaikos tied at the top and thus the champion was to be determined by a play-off match. In the match that took place on 31 July, despite taking the lead with a goal by Christos Ampos, AEK eventually lost, as the "greens" overturned the score and won by 2–1. Kostas Nestoridis won the top scorer award for the second time in a row.

1960–61 season, Part I

AEK continued this season with one of their "patriarchs", Tryfon Tzanetis in the technical leadership, who was officially hired in January. However, his predecessor, Lukas Aurednik, remained in the team and alongside the former player, Christos Ribas, formed a coaching triumvirate. Aurednik promoted the team's future star, Spyros Pomonis, alongside Nikos Zagotsis from their academies, while the additions of Thanasis Gouvas from A.E. Messolonghi and Aris Tsachouridis from Makedonikos, were also noteworthy. Among the departures were that of Thanasis Tsangaris to Panerythraikos and that of the captain, Giannis Kanakis, who retired after 12 years of service. A series of incidents with the referees prevented AEK from claiming any distinctions in the league and in combination with some bad results, led in Aurednik stepping down as the manager of the club.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1960–61 season, Part II

The assumption of technical leadership by Tryfon Tzanetis for the fourth time did not change things up, as AEK finished in the fourth place. The roster was stenghthened with the arrival of the talented midfielder, Stelios Skevofilakas from Eleftheroupoli at the end of the season. Kostas Nestoridis defended successfully his title as the top scorer of the league, for a third season in a row.

1961–62 season

AEK were trying to return in claiming titles, with Tryfon Tzanetis remaining at the team's bench and Kleanthis Maropoulos as the technical director, they carried out the transfers of the international Cypriots, Panikos Krystallis and Dimitris Zagylos. The defender Nikos Melissis retired, while Pavlos Emmanouilidis and Thymios Polyzos left for Panachaiki. In January, Nikos Goumas completed the constructions on the Nea Filadelfeia Stadium, which was modernized with the reconstruction of its stands and by acquiring turf. The high competition with Panathinaikos, Olympiacos and Apollon Athens, who proved to be more consistent, did not allow them to finish higher than the fourth place for a second season in a row. Kostas Nestoridis stood up again, claiming the top scorer award for a fourth time in a row.

Honours Won: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1963)

Runner-up: —

Serafidis

Marditsis

Papapostolou

Kanellopoulos

Sofianidis

Stamatiadis (c)

Tsachouridis

Petridis

Skevofilakas

Papaioannou

Nestoridis

Lineup against Panathinaikos (1963-06-23)

1962–63 season

The performances of Nestoridis alone were not enough for AEK to win any titles. It was not until a young striker, Mimis Papaioannou was signed from Veria, that AEK managed to rise to the top. He formed an incredible offensive duo with Nestoridis, which scored a total of 47 goals in their first season. Furthermore, the president, Nikos Goumas in his effort to upgrade the club in any way he could, brought the Hungarian-German manager, Jenő Csaknady, with successful spells in the Bundesliga. Csaknady brought to the team the iron disciplined model in the locker rooms, innovating training methods and new tactical systems. Alongside Papaioannou, Manolis Kanellopoulos from Egaleo, Vangelis Petrakis from Aris, Aleko Yordan, the Turkish international defender of a Greek descent, who couldn't compete in that season and the Syrian international striker, Ibrahim Mughrabi, the first foreign player to ever play for a Greek club, were among the transfers of the season. The goalkeeper Sotiris Fakis, the defender Stefanos Demiris and the forward Christos Ampos were among the departures. AEK finished at the top, tied with Panathinaikos and a championship play-off was set. Panathinaikos took the lead, but the duo of Papaioannou-Nestoridis took action with two goals by Papaioannou and one by the Nestoridis from a direct corner kick, made it 3–1. However, the "greens" took advantage of a period of inactivity of AEK and equalized in the final 3–3. Thus, by the regulation of the time AEK won the title with a goal ratio of 3.14 against the 2.68 of the Panathinaikos.[4] As AEK won their first post-war league with Nestoridis emerging as the league's top scorer for the fifth time and the last of his career with 23 goals, making a record of consecutive wins of the award.[5]

Honours Won: Greek Cup: 1 (1964)

Runner-up: —

1963–64 season

Heinrich Müller

Petrakis

Papapostolou

Marditsis

Charalampidis

Theofanidis

Tasinos

Kanellopoulos

Skevofilakas

Papaioannou

Petridis

Nestoridis (c)

Lineup against Monaco (1963-09-18)

In 1963, the management of AEK removed the championship-winning manager, Jenő Csaknády and the Austrian Heinrich Müller with successful spells at Austria Wien and Willem II was hired in his place. Ibrahim Mughrabi returned to Syria, Thanasis Gouvas, Petros Stamatelopoulos and Nikos Zagotsis left and the Cypriots, Panikos Krystallis and Dimitris Zagylos returned to their homeland, while Giannis Marditsis, after the first match against Monaco, withdrew from the team. The team were strengthened by the additions of Panagiotis Charalambidis, a defender from Iraklis, Fanis Tasinos, a promising midfielder from Pagorinthiakos and the striker of Atromitos, Kostas Papageorgiou. Furthermore, talented players such as Michalis Simigdalas, Giorgos Karafeskos and Nikos Sevastopoulos were promoted from the team's academies. AEK played for the first time in their history in the UEFA competitions, as they participated in the preliminary round of the European Cup, where they were eliminated by the French champions, Monaco. The team ended up finishing 3rd, but they won the cup, even though the final did not took place, since the other semi-finalists, Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, were disqualified due to serious fan incidents of both clubs in the semi-final at Leoforos Alexandras Stadium.[6] After 5 consecutive wins of Kostas Nestoridis, the league's top scorer was Mimis Papaioannou, who with 29 goals kept the award within the club. In the end of the season Müller left the club due to financial differences with the renewall of his contract.

Serafidis

Yordan

Balopoulos

Kefalidis

Sofianidis

Stamatiadis (c)

Pomonis

Petridis

Skevofilakas

Papaioannou

Nestoridis

Lineup against Dinamo Zagreb (1964-09-09)

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1965)

1964–65 season

Küçükandonyadis

In the summer of 1964, the Austro-Hungarian Mirko Kokotović, a successful coach with Fenerbahçe was hired. The technical director Kleanthis Maropoulos, proceeded in the transfers of the goalkeeper Theodoros Maniateas from Panthisiakos, the defenders Fotis Balopoulos from Proodeftiki, Giorgos Kefalidis from Pierikos and Lakis Fragoudakis, while the Fenerbahçe and Turkey legend of Greek descent, Lefter Küçükandonyadis also joined the club at an advanced age. Giannis Marditsis, Panagiotis Charalampidis, Mimis Anastasiadis and Aris Tsachouridis stood out among the departures. AEK played for the first time in their history in the final stage of the Cup Winners' Cup against Dinamo Zagreb. Despite their elimination of the tournament, they managed to achieve their first ever European victory in the first leg. AEK fought for the league title until the final matchday, but eventually finished second, only 3 ponits behind Panathinakos. Kokotović was released after the end of the season as the management wanted to proceed with another coach at the club's bench.

Honours Won: Greek Cup: 1 (1966)

Runner-up: —

1965–66 season

In the summer of 1965, Tryfon Tzanetis in his fifth and final spell in the club, strengthened the roster with the transfers of the defener of Apollon Athens, Tasos Vasiliou, the forward of PAO Safrafolis, Kostas Nikolaidis and the midfielder of Fostiras, Panagiotis Ventouris, while Nikos Stathopoulos, Giorgos Karafeskos and Michalis Simigdalas were promoted from the infrastructure departments. On the other side Miltos Papapostolou and Lefter Küçükandonyadis retired, while Theofilos Vernezis and Emilios Theofanidis left the club. In a friendly match between AEK and Real Madrid which ended 3–3,[7] Mimis Papaioannou had an impressive performance and the Spaniards made an offer of 4,000,000 drachmas for his acquisition. The club's refusal in fear of the crowd reactions to a possible departure of Papaioannou from the team[8] embittered the player, who withdrew from the club's activities and turned to singing, performing with Stelios Kazantzidis.[9] The championship begun with a great delay, due to conflicts between the "eternals", Olympiacos and Panathinakos, and a group of clubs consisted by AEK and other smaller clubs. Αt December, shortly before the derby with Panathinaikos and after an urge from Kazantzidis, AEK offered a new contract to Papaioannou and the latter returned to the team.[10] Despite his monthly absence, Papaioannou scored a goal and the other two goals by Nikolaidis, AEK won by 2–3.[11] In the same match of the second round, while the score was at 1–1, Panathinaikos scored from an offside position, the referee awarded the goal and as a result wild incidents occurred with the participation of fans entering the field, which resulted in suspension of the match and its award to Panathinaikos.[12] As a protest, AEK were absent in the next match against Panserraikos,[13] but with the fear of relegation they were forced to return to the championship, eventually finishing 3rd. Even though Papaioannou was absent from the preperatation of the team and from their first matches, he won the top scorer award for the second time in his career with 23 goals, succeeding Nestoridis in being the leader of the team and the best player of his era. In the cup, AEK qualified to the final against Olympiacos and the HFF set the match on 10 July, at the Karaiskakis Stadium, which brought reaction of Olympiacos, who announced their intention not to show up, due to the advanced date of the final. Thus, on 7 July the HFF, unable to convince Olympiacos to change their mind, declared AEK the cup winners.[14]

1966–67 season, Part I

After 11 seasons, the legendary Kostas Nestoridis left the club, as well as Giorgos Petridis and Fanis Tasinos, however AEK did not proceed in any particular transfer move, considering that the roster was sufficient from the previous seasons, with the only acquisition being that of the forward of Apollon Athens, Vasilis Mastrakoulis. AEK started the season with the European Cup Winners' Cup, playing against Braga, but they were eliminated with 2 defeats. After an away draw against Panserraikos at the 10th matchday, alarmed the management, who took the decision to remove Tzanetis from the bench of AEK.

Honours Won: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1968)

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1967), Balkans Cup: 1 (1967),

1966–67 season, Part II

Serafidis

Yordan

Vasiliou

Skevofilax

Sofianidis

Karafeskos

Balopoulos

Stamatiadis (c)

Nikolaidis

Papaioannou

Mastrakoulis

Lineup against Fenerbahçe (1967-10-11)

The removal of Tzanetis brought back at the wheel of the club the emblematic winner of the 1963 league, Jenő Csaknády after three and a half years.[15] The Hungarian-German made his mark from the beginning, with two wins in the first two games, including a home win against Olympiacos, who at the time seemed unstoppable. While AEK were covering the distance for the title race, the government was overthrown and a military dictatorship was imposed on the country, resulting in the interruption of the championship. AEK were not affected by the interruption and continued in covering up the distance, but two draws in the final matchdays ended their chances of winning the championship, finishing second, 3 points behind Olympiacos. AEK also competed in the Balkans Cup, finishing first in their group and qualified in the final against Fenerbahçe. In the first leg at Nea Filadelfeia, AEK won by 2–1, but in Istanbul, the Turks won by 1–0 and a third match was set. 7 months later, on 30 May 1968 at Mithat Paşa, AEK lost the opportunity to win an international trophy, as they lost with 3–1.

1967–68 season

Serafidis

Vasiliou

Fragoudakis

Balopoulos

Karafeskos

Sofianidis

Stamatiadis (c)

Pomonis

Ventouris

Skevofilax

Papaioannou

Lineup against Olympiacos (1967-12-03)

In the summer of 1967, Csaknády, evaluating the team's roster decided not to proceed in any particular transfer, as he considered that the team was ready to claim the title. The goalkeeper Vangelis Petrakis left for OFI and the promising Stelios Konstantinidis was promoted from the infrastructure departments to replace him. Indeed, AEK appeared complete in all their lines and under Csaknády seemed capable of defeating any opponent and on 3 December made that clear by crushing Olympiacos with 1–4 at Karaiskakis Stadium. In the second round with a victory by 2–1 against the same opponent at Nea Filadelfeia, they secured the title 8 matchdays before the end of the league.[16] Csaknády did not agree on staying in the club for another season, becoming the only coach of AEK to win two championship titles in his two full seasons.[17][18]

Honours Won: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1971)

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1970)

1968–69 season

Branko Stanković

Konstantinidis

Vasiliou

Balopoulos

Kefalidis

Stathopoulos

Karafeskos

Stamatiadis
(c)

Skevofilax

Nikolaidis

Pomonis

Papaioannou

Lineup against Spartak Trnava (1969-03-12)

A transitional year for AEK, as after the departure of Jenő Csaknády, the Yugoslav Branko Stanković was hired, with a great career in his country. Due to a lack of sufficient money, did not proceed in any big transfer moves, as they acquired a couple of young footballers from smaller clubs and promoted talented players from the academy, such as the defensive midfielder Giorgos Lavaridis, while the striker Vasilis Mastrakoulis left. Under Stanković the team's model was based on the modern football of the time, where tactics, technique, physical strength and discipline were the main focus. The inability of the players to quickly adapt to the new model of working, due to injuries and the advanced age of some players, resulted in a bad start in the league. However, in time the team started to increase their performance and on 27 October they defeted Olympiacos at Karaiskakis Stadium by 2–3 with Mimis Papaioannou playing as goalkeeper from the 85th minute, due to the suspension of Stelios Serafidis.[19] AEK were consistently close in claiming the title, until the 22nd matchday when they were defeated at home by Olympiacos, which resulted in the downfall of the team, who eventually finished 6th, not being able to qualify in any European competition. However, AEK made one of the most impressive European campaigns in the history of Greek football in the European Cup. Eliminating Jeunesse Esch from Luxembourg with ease in first round and the Danish AB in the second round, became the first Greek club to ever reach the quarter-finals of the European Cup, or in any European competition at all. There, AEK were drawn the Czechoslovakian Spartak Trnava and despite their away defeat in the first leg they fought for the qualification in the rematch, however the final 1–1 was not enough to proceed in the semi-finals of the tournament. At the end of the season, Stanković decided in a big renewal of the roster in order to return the club in claiming titles over the following years.

1969–70 season

In he second consecutive transitional season for AEK, Stanković proceeded in the renewal in their roster, that he planned since the previous season. The promising defenders, Stefanos Theodoridis and Giorgos Triantafyllou were promoted to the first team, while the defender of Trikala, Apostolos Toskas and the legendary former player of Panathinaikos, Andreas Papaemmanouil were acquired. At the same time in the context of that renewal, players with a huge offer to the club left, such as Alekos Sofianidis, Aleko Yordan and the legendary captain, Andreas Stamatiadis, while other important players, such as Michalis Simigdalas, Nikos Sevastopoulos and Kostas Papageorgiou departed as well. The conquest of the second place in the league was considered a success, considering the radical changes in the squad and the strength of Panathinaikos at the time. Mimis Papaioannou emerged as the top scorer of the club with 18 goals and second in the league behind Antonis Antoniadis. In the cup, AEK were eliminated in the second round, by Panathinaikos at home, losing by 3–5 in the penalty shootout as at the end of the extra time the score was 1–1.

1970–71 season

Stanković completed the renewall of the roster that he started from the previous seasons, creating a well-worked team. The club did not proceed in any particular transfer, while on the other side the experienced defenders Tasos Vasiliou, Fotis Balopoulos and Lakis Fragoudakis left the club for various reasons. The team began their competitive obligations with the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, where they were eliminated in the first round by the newly formed Dutch Twente. Despite their elimination, AEK played spectacular football throughout the season, achieving the highest scoring victory in the championship against Veria with 8–2,[20] while they finished the season with only 3 defeats in the league, concieding 18 goals in total. Their great performance was rewarded with the conquest of the league, relatively early on in the season. Mimis Papaioannou and Kostas Nikolaidis stood out with their performances, with the first adapting perfectly in his new role behind the strikers.

1971–72 season

Konstantinidis

Triantafyllou

Kefalidis

Theodoridis

Karafeskos

Lavaridis

Papaemmanouil

Pomonis

Ventouris

Papaioannou (c)

Psimogiannos

Lineup against Internazionale (1971-09-29)

Since the previous season, the administrative disputes and the over the top for the time demands of the players, appeared within the club, resulting in the start of a declining period for AEK. However, that did not prevent AEK from presenting a competitive team. The defender of Aris Ptolemaidas, Giorgos Tanidis and the striker of Babis Psimogiannos from Aris Agios Konstantinos were transferred, however that of the young striker of Atromitos, Lakis Nikolaou stood out for a fee of 600,000 drachmas and 4 players as an exchange.[21] AEK played in the European Cup and were eliminated from the first round by the European giants, Internazionale, but the achieved a historic victory over the mighty Italians at Nea Filadelfeia, with 3–2[22] In the league they finished third, 6 points from the top, while in the cup they expirienced a surprise elimination in the round of 16 by Lamia, who defeated them 1–0 at the extra time.

1972–73 season, Part I

The declining course of AEK Athens continued. Important players such as Petros Ravousis, Tasos Konstantinou, Lakis Stergioudas and Dionysis Tsamis were acquired, while the arrival of Latin American footballers, such as Néstor Errea, Rodolfo Vicente and Hugo Zeer did not offer anything special to the team. On the other hand, the lengendary goalkeeper Stelios Serafidis retired after 19 years at the club, while Kostas Triantafyllou, Giorgos Kefalidis and Stelios Skevofilakas went to Atromitos as a part of the deal of transfer of Nikolaou from the previous season and Panagiotis Ventouris and Andreas Papaemmanouil also departed. In their first appearance in the UEFA Cup AEK were eliminated in the second round by the mighty Liverpool. In the cup they faced again a surprise elimination by Apollon Kalamarias at the round of 16. The elimination from the cup resulted in the removal of Stanković from the yellow-black bench.

Overview

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1972–73 season, Part II

Following the removal of Stanković after five years in the club, AEK proceeded in the acquisition of the coach of the national team, Billy Bingham. In a bad season for the club, the Irish coach did not succeed in making any significant contribution. In the end AEK finished 5th and Bingham was sacked after the season was over.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1973–74 season

As the combination of administrative changes and financial difficulties continued, the English coach Stan Anderson was hired, with his only coaching experience being at Middlesbrough. Players such as Giorgos Sidiropoulos, Sakis Zarzopoulos, Spyros Stefanidis, Lazaros Papadopoulos and the Uruguayan Jorge Fanìs were acquired, while Nikos Karoulias was promoted to the first team. Importand players such as Stelios Konstantinidis, Kostas Nikolaidis and Spyros Pomonis left. In a disappointing season Anderson was sacked before the end of the season with the club proceeding with the coach of the reserve team, Kostas Chatzimichail until the end of the season. AEK finished for the second consecutive year in 5th place, not managing to qualify in any European competition yet again.

František Fadrhonc

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki: 2 (1975, 1976)

1974–75 season

Huge administrative changes occurred within the club in the summer of 1974, as the political situation was normalizing. Loukas Barlos, owner of bauxite factories, won the elections of the club with 58% and became their new president.[23] He envisioned a team that would surpass the Greek standards and without sparing any money, started its "building", by hiring the Czechoslovak František Fadrhonc as coach, who was a huge name at the time with long managerial career at the Dutch league and the Netherlands.[24] Fadrhonc brought a series of innovations in both the methods of training, coaching and their organization structure. On his part, Barlos, brought some of the best players of the Greek market,[25] with the fast winger, Christos Ardizoglou from Apollon Athens,[26] the diligent scorer, Georgios Dedes and the defender, Giorgos Skrekis from Panionios arriving at the club. Furthermore, the Germans, Walter Wagner, a striker from Austria Wien and Timo Zahnleiter, one of the first modern defensive midfielders in the league from 1860 München were also transferred. Among the departures, were that of Néstor Errea, Giorgos Tanidis, Nikos Karoulias, Babis Psimogiannos and most importantly those of the long time regulars, Giorgos Karafeskos and Nikos Stathopoulos. The newly reformed AEK played impressive football from their first season, finishing second in the league, two points behind Olympiacos, having the best attack and defense, while they reached the quarter-finals of the cup.

1975–76 season

AEK continued their ascending course with Barlos and Fadrhonc, with the only addition being the promoton of Fotis Outsikas from the academies and the departures being those of Giorgos Lavaridis and Jorge Fanìs. The main focus point for Barlos was the acquisition of the young and talented striker of Panionios, Thomas Mavros. The president of AEK approached and convinced Mavros to join the club, but they came across the obstacle of Panionios. A legal dispute began, with Mavros staying out the stadiums for a season,[27] which was reminiscent of the case of Kostas Nestoridis in 1955. Fadrhonc's work was becoming effective, creating a team that combined spectacle and results. AEK returned in the UEFA Cup, after two years of absence, reaching its second round, where they were merely eliminated by the Czechoslovak Inter Bratislava. In the league, AEK despite being undefeated for 23 matches, some defeats during the end of the season, resulted in finishing at the second place for a second season in a row. Georgios Dedes with 15 goals won the top scorer award.

1976–77 season

Stergioudas

Nikolaou

Ravousis

Intzoglou

Theodoridis

Tsamis

Tasos

Nikoloudis

Papaioannou (c)

Wagner

Mavros

Lineup against QPR (1977-03-02)

The team that Barlos envisioned with Fadrhonc was reaching its completion. Barlos brought once more the greatest players the of Greek market, as the legal dispute with Panionios ended and the transfer of Mavros was finally completed. Apart from Mavros, the veteran goalkeeper, Nikos Christidis from Aris, the diligent shooter and free-kick specialist, Takis Nikoloudis from Iraklis and the talented defender Babis Intzoglou from Panionios were the most important acquisitions. Fadrhonc, considering the playing intelligence and high technical qualities of Mimis Papaioannou, decided to relocate him as an attacking midfielder, in order to fit all the great attackers of his roster.

The club's most memorable moment in European competitions was their campaign to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. In the first round they faced Soviet champions, Dynamo Moscow. In Athens, they won 2–0 with goals by Nikoloudis and Papaioannou. At the Central Dynamo Stadium, the Russians equalized the score of the first leg and the match went to extra time. In the last minute of extra time, AEK won a penalty that was converted into a goal by Konstantinou and proceeded to the second round. There, they faced the English Derby County. At AEK Stadium, with a goal by Wagner and an own goal by Thomas they got a 2–0 win. At the Baseball Ground, AEK found themselves losing with 1–0, but responded by scoring three times with Nikoloudis, Konstantinou and Wagner, with the Rams managing only to score a consolation goal in the final 2–3 win. With that victory, AEK became the first club in the history of the European tournaments to win in English ground.[28] In the third round AEK came across the Yugoslav, Red Star Belgrade. In the first game of Athens, AEK were once again victorious by winning 2–0, with Papaioannou and Mavros. At the Red Star Stadium, the Yugoslavs took the lead with a goal by Baralić, but Wagner quickly equalized. The two additional goals by Filipović and Savić were not enough for Red Star, as AEK won on away goals. In the quarter-finals AEK faced their greatest challenge to that moment, the English league's runner-ups, QPR. The first leg at the Loftus Road, the two penalty kicks in the first ten minutes scored by Francis and another goal by Bowles gave QPR a 3–0 win and seemed that the qualification was over. Nevertheless, in the rematch of Nea Filadelfeia, AEK did the impossible with two goals by Mavros and another by Papaioannou, sending the match to extra time and eventually to a penalty shoot-out. At the end of the extra time, Fadrhonc, to everyone's surprise, subbed his goalkeeper Stergioudas, with the more experienced Christidis. His move proved vital as Christidis saved two penalties and gave AEK a 7–6 win. In the semi-finals AEK were drawn against the Italian giants, Juventus. At the Stadio Comunale, the bianconeri took the lead with Cuccureddu, but the yellow-blacks equalized with Papadopoulos. The two goals by Bettega and another one by Causio that came after, gave Juventus a 4–1 victory. The Old Lady also won 0–1 in Nea Filadelfeia, with a goal of Boninsegna and proceeded in eventually winning their first European title.

The negative results that were occurred in matches that coincided near European games, costed AEK points that prevented them from winning the title. As a result, AEK finished 4th place with 51 points, but at a distance of only 3 points from the top.

1977–78 season, Part I

Dušan Bajević

Barlos continued in streangthening the club's roster, bringing the full-back of Egaleo, Aris Damianidis, the Uruguayan midfielder Milton Viera from Olympiacos, the top scorer of the second division with AEL, Giannis Mousouris, who was converted into a right-back and most importantly the Yugoslav international striker, Dušan Bajević from Velež Mostar. On the other hand, Giorgos Sidiropoulos, Sakis Zarzopoulos, Giorgos Skrekis, Timo Zahnleiter, Walter Wagner and Georgios Dedes among others left the club. The philosophical differences between Barlos and Fadrhonc regarding the future of the team showed up, as the first wanted the transfers of big names, while the "grandfather" seemed to prefer the gradual staffing of the team through their upgraded academies, which he had under his supervision. The price of their differences of philosophy resulted in the removal of the Czechoslovak after the away defeat against Olympiacos at the 2nd matchday. His assistant, and former captain of the team, Andreas Stamatiadis sat on the bench for the next two games as an interim coach and from there Zlatko Čajkovski took over the fate of AEK.

Overview

Zlatko (Čik) Čajkovski

Honours Won: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1978), Greek Cup: 1 (1978)

Runner-up: —

1977–78 season, Part II

Christidis

Nikolaou

Ravousis

Mousouris

Intzoglou

Viera

Tasos

Nikoloudis

Papaioannou (c)

Bajević

Mavros

Lineup against Olympiacos (1978-05-17)

The so-called "Čik" with a long and successful career at the German championship with Köln and Bayern Munich among others, was an ardent practitioner of attacking and spectacular football. In the UEFA Cup, AEK after eliminating the Romanian ASA Târgu Mureș in the first round, were eliminated in the second round by the Belgian Standard Liège. After the recovery of the injured Bajević and his pairing with Mavros in the offense, AEK played impressive attacking football, achieving a total of 74 goals and they easily won the league with only 2 defeats. Thomas Mavros claimed the top scorer of the league award with 22 goals. In the cup, AEK seemed unstoppable, eliminating AO Chania in the first round, Panathinaikos in the second round, Panionios in the round of 16 and Panelefsiniakos in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, they crushed Olympiacos with a historic 6–1 at Nea Filadelfeia. In the final, AEK confirmed their superiority defeating PAOK by 2–0 and won the trophy, achieving the second domestic double in their history. Dušan Bajević emerged as the top scorer of the cup with 9 goals. Despite that being one of the most successful years in the history of the club, Čajkovski had already signed with Zürich for the next eason.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1978–79 season, Part I

Ferenc Puskás

Christidis

Nikolaou (c)

Ravousis

Mousouris

Intzoglou

Nikoloudis

Tasos

Ardizoglou

Domazos

Bajević

Mavros

Lineup against Porto (1978-09-13)

Barlos hoping that the club would continue their great course in both domestic and European competition, did not proceed in any particular addition as the team was already full, with the transfer of Stavros Letsas and the promotion of future important players, Spyros Ikonomopoulos and Panagiotis Stylianopoulos. During the summer the legendary captain and star player of Panathinaikos, Mimis Domazos was released from the club, due to conflicts with their management. Barlos seized the opportunity and immediately approached Domazos to sign him and after getting the approval by captain of the club, Mimis Papaioannou, the huge transfer took place. Thus, for one season, AEK had the two best Greek football players of their era, Papaioannou and Domazos. Stefanos Theodoridis and Fotis Outsikas were among the departures. Trying to achieve a breakthrough at the European stage Barlos hired the great Ferenc Puskás to the team's bench, who alongside Domazos were the architects of the course of Panathinaikos to the 1971 European Cup Final.

In the championship, AEK started impressively and were ahead in the standings with Olympiacos being the only rival for the title. While AEK were scattering their opponents, there were many official complaints from the opponents of Olympiacos for attempts of bribery by the red and whites. AEK in the European Cup against were drawn against Porto for the first round and they achieved their greatest victory in the European Cup, scattering the Portuguese champions with 6–1, while in the rematch AEK took the lead, securing the qualification, but in the end lost by 4–1. In the second round they faced Nottingham Forest, who did not underestimate the yellow-blacks and eliminated them with 2 wins. Towards the end of the season, AEK presented an decline in their performance and Barlos in fear of losing the championshing, removed Puskás from bench of the team.

Honours Won: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1979)

Runner-up: Greek Cup: 1 (1979)

1978–79 season, Part II

After the departure of Puskás, his assistant, Andreas Stamatiadis took charge for the rest of the season. The end of the championship found AEK and Olympiacos, tied in the first place and a play-off match for the title was set. Olympiacos either in fear of a possible embarrassment from AEK, or as part of an unofficial deal with the HFF in exchange for silencing allegations of bribery and consequently avoiding demotion, did not show up to the match and AEK were declared champion.[29] In the cup, AEK easily reached the final where they met Panionios and despite taking the lead early on, they lost the title with a 3–1 defeat in one of the biggest surprises in the history of the tournament.[30] Thomas Mavros was declared the top scorer of the league with 31 goals and 40 in total, winning the European Silver Shoe, just 3 goals behind Kees Kist.[31] At the end of the season the club's legend Mimis Papaioannou decided to leave after 17 years of service.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1979–80 season, Part I

From this season and on, football in Greece became professional with the chairman, Loukas Barlos becoming the first owner of AEK Athens. Barlos realizing that it was impossible to compete financially with his rich rivals and having an aversion to the professionalization of sports, was preparing the ground for his departure. His last great offer to AEK was the construction of the first two-story podium in a Greek stadium, the so-called "Skepasti" (The Covered).[32] Transferwise, AEK mostly promoted players from their academies managed by František Fadrhonc, such as Stelios Manolas, Lysandros Georgamlis, Vangelis Vlachos and Giorgos Chatziioannidis, while also acquiring Dimitris Argyros, Spyros Thodis, Stelios Kaselakis Panikos Hatziloizou and Franjo Vladić, the partner of Bajević at Velež Mostar. On the other hand, Apostolos Toskas, Milton Viera, Lazaros Papadopoulos and most importantly Mimis Papaioannou, left the club. In the position of the coach the Austrian champion with Austria Wien, Hermann Stessl was hired. AEK were eliminated in the first round of the European Cup the Romanian Argeș Pitești, with the people of AEK blaiming for the referee of the second leg, who denied them three penalties and the possibility of the qualification and after the incidents that followed in the locker room and the referees' room, AEK were punished with a one-year ban from the European competitions by UEFA.[33] AEK did not start the championship well and were left behind in the standings, while in the cup they were eliminated by PAOK at the round of 16. In the first winter transfer period in Greek football, AEK were weakened as Mimis Domazos left to close his career at Panathinaikos, Takis Nikoloudis was transferred to Olympiacos and Dionysis Tsamis departed for Korinthos. The left back of Trikala, Vangelis Paraprastanitis arrived at the club. A series of bad results brought the dismissal of Stessl from the bench.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki: 1 (1981)

1979–80 season, Part II

Miltos Papapostolou

The veteran player of AEK, Miltos Papapostolou took over on the bench with the help of Fadrhonc. The team returned to the successful results and assisted significantly by the 25 goals of Bajević, who emerged as the legue's top scorer, finished tied with Panathinaikos in the third place, two points behind the equal in the first place Olympiacos and Aris. Thus, play-off matches were set for both the first place for the championship and the third place for a ticket to the UEFA Cup. The play-off match between AEK and Panathinaikos was a strange match, as the exclusion of the yellow-blacks from the European competitions meant that no matter what the result of the game was, Panathinaikos would play in the UEFA Cup, but if AEK won would serve their sentence immediately. Even though from Panathinaikos' side seemed that they were against the conduction of the match, Barlos, showing a high sense of honor and having in mind the incident of Olympiacos not showing up in the last season's match, demanded the match to be held and thus the match took place normally with AEK losing by 1–0, finishing 4th in the league.[34]

1980–81 season

AEK entered the decade, essentially closing one of their most successful historical periods, since this season was the last year of Loukas Barlos ownership. AEK acquired Giorgos Rigas, Michalis Tzirakis, Kostas Eleftherakis, Dimitrios Gesios, Dimitrios Papadopoulos and Manolis Kottis among others, as well as Petros Karavitis from the winter. Babis Intzoglou, Aris Damianidis and Tasos Konstantinou from the winter, were the most important departures. The club did not compete in the UEFA competitions, thus they competed in the Balkans Cup instead, where in the group stage, all three teams were on tied and Velež Mostar with a better goal ratio were qualified to he final. In the league, AEK finished in the second place, five points behind Olympiacos. In the cup, they were eliminated in the semi-finals by PAOK.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1981–82 season, Part I

After the departure of Loukas Barlos the ownership of the club was taken over by Andreas Zafiropoulos, a sport's goods businessman. The new administration proceeded with the renewal of the roster with the addition of Takis Karagiozopoulos from Veria, the promising striker of Kastoria, Giannis Dintsikos, the versatile midfielder Dinos Ballis from Aris, the Yugoslav striker Mojaš Radonjić and the renowned Bulgarian international, Hristo Bonev, who was suffering from injuries. Dušan Bajević and Franjo Vladić had already left the club, with Kostas Eleftherakis, Dimitrios Gesios and Dimitrios Papadopoulos coming next. Former German international goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski took over at the yellow-black bench. The team made one of the worst starts in their history and Tilkowski was fired midseason.

Honours Won: –

Runner-up: —

1981–82 season, Part II

Zlatko Čajkovski, who had won the double in 1978 was hired. AEK recovered competitively, but not to an extend of claiming the league. In the cup, AEK faced PAOK at the round of 16 and were eliminated for a second consecutive year. AEK eventually finished at 4th place in the league, 5 points from the top and managed to secure a spot in the European competitions, after two season of absence.

1982–83 season, Part I

In the summer of 1982, Zafiropoulos stepped out of the presidency, which was handed over to the shipowner Michalis Arkadis. Takis Nikoloudis returned to the team after his spell at Olympiacos, while with the transfers of the goalkeepers Christos Arvanitis and Fanis Kofinas, and the Bulgarian midfielder Angel Kolev took place. Hristo Bonev returned to Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Petros Karavitis left for Proodeftiki, Giannis Mousouris for Veria, Giorgos Rigas for Makedonikos, while the veterans Nikos Christidis and Lakis Nikolaou retired. AEK competed in the UEFA Cup, where they played against Köln in the first round and were eliminated with two defeats. As season progressed, the relations of Čajkovski with some players and the management, caused controversy in the face of the Yugoslav and after some bad results, he was fired.

Honours Won: Greek Cup: 1 (1983)

Runner-up: —

Arvanitis

Karagiozopoulos

Manolas

Georgamlis

Paraprastanitis

Ballis

Vlachos
(c)

Ardizoglou

Kottis

Dintsikos

Mavros

Lineup against PAOK (1983-06-29)

1982–83 season, Part II

After a brief spell by the former legend, Kostas Nestoridis at the bench of the club, the well-known from his spells at Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, Helmut Senekowitsch was hired. The team finished in the 3rd place, 5 from the top. AEK completed the season with the conquest of the cup, eliminating Olympiacos in the quarter-finals with 2 wins and defeating PAOK by 2–0 at the Olympic Stadium in the final that was marked by crowd incidents.[35]

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1983–84 season, Part I

In the summer of 1983, AEK faced another administrative change in their presidency, as Michalis Arkadis left, not having the financial means to cope with their obligations and the Cypriot travel agency owner, Lefteris Panagidis stepped in and replaced him. Panagidis who was admirer of the English football, hired the British John Barnwell, the former coach of Wolves. British footballers Trevor Ross, from Everton and Tommy Langley, from Crystal Palace, came with him to the team in an atmosphere of excitement and high expectations. AEK also proceeded with the acquisition of the Greek-Brazilian Pavlos Papaioannou from Rodos, as well as the promising midfielder of Veria, Babis Akrivopoulos. On the other hand, Mojaš Radonjić returned to Yugoslavia, while Michalis Tzirakis left the club. After a bad start and an elimination from the Cup Winners' Cup's the first round by Újpest, Barnwell was fired.

Honours Won: –

Runner-up: —

1983–84 season, Part II

The British coach was succeeded by the "old acquaintance" Helmut Senekowitsch. Takis Nikoloudis and Angel Kolev left, while the British Trevor Ross and Tommy Langley, failing to fullfill any expectation on their face, were released. Senekowitsch did not manage to change the bad performances of the team and was also fired after 2+1⁄2 months. Kostas Nestoridis completed the tragic season for AEK, who eventually finished 7th at the league, while at the cup were eliminated at the round of 16 by the later finalist, AEL.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1984–85 season, Part I

In the summer of 1984, Zafiropoulos returned to the presidency of the club. Petros Ravousis, one of the team's flags for 12 years, left for Levadiakos, Lakis Stergioudas moved to PAOK, Spyros Thodis to Anagennisi Karditsa and Giorgos Chatziioannidis also left. AEK were strengthened with the Swedish striker, Håkan Sandberg from Göteborg and Czech midfielder, František Štambachr and from the Greek market, with Nikos Pias, Theologis Papadopoulos Andreas Votsidis and Makis Chatzis. The coach was the Czech Václav Halama, who had a spells at the benches of Austria Wien and Munich 1860. AEK did not start well, while in the cup, they experienced one of the most shameful eliminations in their history at the hands of Lamia. Before the middle of the season, Zafiropoulos proceeded in replacing Halama.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1984–85 season, Part II

Antonis Georgiadis, the former coach of Aris came in as a replacement for the Czech. However, the team made changes also in their roster. In December, Štambachr left for Apollon Athens, and Vangelis Paraprastanitis for Egaleo. On the other hand, the Hungarian international forward Márton Esterházy was dressed in AEK Athens' colors. Esterházy, together with Mavros and Sandberg composed a magic attacking triplet for the team, that demonstrated a very good offensive performance. Eventually AEK finished at third place in the league, tied with Panathinaikos and 3 points from. Thomas Mavros finished once more as the league's top scorer, with 27 goals.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1985–86 season

Arvanitis

Georgamlis (c)

Manolas

Chatzis

Armodoros

Karagiozopoulos

Pias

Dintsikos

Papaioannou

Esterházy

Sandberg

Lineup against Real Madrid (1985-09-18)

Antonis Georgiadis left the team's bench for Olympiacos and the Polish Jacek Gmoch, who had won the 1984 double and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup with Panathinaikos was hired. Christos Ardizoglou left the club to end his career at Apollon Athens and Stavros Letsas left to Egaleo. In December, both Vangelis Vlachos and Lysandros Georgamlis left for Panathinaikos as they didn't agree with Zafiropoulos about their contract renewall, with the first being inactive from the previous sesason. In the same period, Christos Arvanitis and Babis Akrivopoulos returned to Olympiacos and Veria, respectively. Summer arrivals included Polyvios Chatzopoulos, Ilias Armodoros and Georgios Christodoulou, while in the winter transfer period AEK were strengthened with the addition of Greek-Australian expatriate, Jim Patikas and Pavlos Dimitriou. AEK had to move to the Olympic Stadium due to construction works at the AEK Stadium and since both Olympiacos and Panathinaikos already used the same stadium as their home, matches were also conducted on Saturdays for the first time, so that all 3 teams could be served competitively. AEK achieved an average league ticket record in their history with 31,254 tickets per game. In the UEFA Cup, AEK were eliminated in the first round by the mighty Real Madrid, despite making a historic win at Athens with the goal by Papaioannou. In the league AEK started well, but the team's performance in the away matches resulted in many losses during the season. The team finished at the third place where they were tied with Iraklis, 7 points from the first place. On 19 April, the general manager of AEK, Giannis Chrysovitsianos, was arrested for attempted bribery to some players of Panserraikos and 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 HFF decided to set a third place play-off match between AEK and Iraklis. Meanwhile Gmoch left, with Nikos Christidis sitting on the bench for the game. Iraklis, not accepting the decision, showed up in the pitch delayed with a 10-player squad, in order to make a parody of the match and by the 53rd minute were left with 6 players and thus the game was awarded with 2–0 to AEK, who secured a place in the next season's UEFA Cup.[36]

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1986–87 season, Part I

The crowd reactions towards Zafiropoulos became more intense, while financial problems began to appear in the club among others. Nevertheless, AEK proceeded with the transfers of Dimitris Pittas from PAOK, Giorgos Peppes from Ethnikos Piraeus and Lampros Georgiadis from Anagennisi Arta, while in the winter they were also strengthened with Rajko Janjanin, from OFI. At the same time, Márton Esterházy left for Panathinaikos and Dinos Ballis returned to Aris. Zafiropoulos hired the Dutch Ab Fafié for the position of the coach. The expectations in his person were high, but his spell was crowned with failure, as he started the championship badly. In the UEFA Cup, AEK were unlucky, facing the mighty Internazionale of Giovanni Trapattoni and were eliminated with two defeats. The elimination from the cup at the hands of Panionios, combined with the bad results in the home matches, resulted in Fafié getting sacked in December.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1986–87 season, Part II

In a strange decision, Zafiropoulos hired as the new coach, Nikos Alefantos. The team continued their instability in their performances and the fans were running out of patience. On 11 April, in the home game against Apollon Kalamarias, they found the opportunity to burst out against the coach and the president, when Alefantos provocatively subbed off Thomas Mavros, who had returned after a monthly injury, dissaproving the substitution. In the press conference of the match, Alefantos spoke out against Mavros, considering him "finished" as a footballer.[37] Those incidents combined with the tolerance of the administration, led in the departure of Mavros, after 11 years in the club. Shortly after, the bad results brought Alefantos to the exit door as well and AEK completed the season with Nikos Christidis as an interim coach. AEK did compete in the last 3 games of the league, due to a strike declared by the Footballers' Union[38] and were punished with a deduction of 6 points, which eventually did not affect the final standings, as they finished in the 7th place.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki (1988)

1987–88 season

In the summer of 1987, AEK returned to the Nea Filadelfeia Stadium without the legendary, Thomas Mavros, who returned to Panionios, as well as Håkan Sandberg, who left for Olympiacos. Ilias Armodoros and Pavlos Dimitriou were also among the departures. On the other hand, the club proceeded in some great additions, such as the Cypriot international forward, Giorgos Savvidis, the Danish striker Henrik Nielsen and the midfielder Vasilios Vasilakos, while the youngsters, Georgios Koutoulas and Christos Vasilopoulos were also acquired. The Yugoslav coach Todor Veselinović was hired. AEK were in the title race, with their only contenders being AEL. After the victory of AEL over Panathinaikos, their footballer, Georgi Tsingov, was tested positive in a dropping test and the case was transferred to the courts becoming known as the "Tsingov case". In the cup, AEK reached the round of 16, facing Olympiacos. In the first match at Karaiskakis Stadium ended 1–1, while on the eve of the rematch, a scandal broke out, as the former player of AEK, Dinos Ballis visited the hotel where the team were located with a bouquet for Theologis Papadopoulos and created suspicions that he was trying to bribe him. In the match, Olympiacos won by 1–3, eliminating them from the cup and the story continued in courts. The Koskotas brothers of Olympiacos were accused of trying to bribe Papadopoulos and Vasilakos through Ballis, resulting in the punishment of only the latter for attempted bribery.[39] Meanwhile, the president of Panachaiki, Aris Loukopoulos, denounced AEK for an attempt to bribe their defender, Leonidas Vosdos, before the match between them, with the footballer being ignorant of the incident. The judges concluded that the story was made up by Loukopoulos and decided in his punishment.[40] In the "Tsingov case", the court's decision was as the regulation predicted and AEL were punished with zeroing for the match, a 2-point deduction and punishment of the player, which brought AEK to the first place of the table. AEL appealed with their fans rallied, pressuring the government by blocking the highway, resulting in the alteration of the regulation "overnight", which meant the return of the points to AEL and their eventual conquest of the championship. AEK could claim the league in courts, but the club's principles did not allow them to proceed in such actions.[41] In the last game of the season at Nea Filadelfeia, the tension between the ultras of the club and Andreas Zafiropoulos peaked, when an incomprehensible decision of the riot police to invade the ultra's stand, resulted in heated encounters between the police and the ultras. Those incidents led in Zafiropoulos stepping out of the presidency of the club permanently.[42] Henrik Nielsen with 21 goals finished the season as the league's top scorer.

Honours Won: Alpha Ethniki: 4 (1989, 1992, 1993, 1994), Greek Super Cup: 1 (1989), Greek League Cup: 1 (1990), Greek Cup: 1 (1996)

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki: 2 (1990, 1996), Greek Super Cup: 3 (1992, 1993, 1994), Greek Cup: 2 (1994, 1995)

1988–89 season

Ikonomopoulos

Peppes

Manolas

Vasilopoulos

Chatzis

Papaioannou

Stamatis

Savevski

Savvidis (c)

Christodoulou

Okoński

Lineup against Olympiacos (1989-05-07)

In the summer of 1988, Andreas Zafiropoulos, with the majority of the fans against him, handed over the presidency of AEK to the nightclub owner, Stratos Gidopoulos. The former striker, Dušan Bajević returned after years, as their new coach. Gidopoulos, supported the Yugoslav to build a well-worked team with the transfers of the Polish star, Mirosław Okoński, the international goalkeeper, Antonis Minou and the American-Greek expatriate, Frank Klopas. After the last season's "Ballis-Papadopoulos" case, Theologis Papadopoulos and Vasilios Vasilakos were released from the club, joining Panionios, Nikos Pias left for Olympiacos Volos, Rajko Janjanin retired and Panagiotis Stylianopoulos joined Korinthos, leaving the club after 11 years of presence. Despite their good performances and having the best defense in the league, AEK seemed to be an outsider for winning the title, to their financially stronger rivals. The team competed in the UEFA Cup, where they played in the first round against Athletic Bilbao and even though they won at home with a goal by Pittas, the Basques replied with a 2–0 win in the rematch at San Mamès, in a game where the fans of Athletic built a human wall and protected those of AEK from the Spanish police.[43] In the cup, AEK were eliminated in the second round by Levadiakos, with the yellow-blacks having major complaints from the referee in the second leg at Nea Filadelfeia.[44] Changes in the roster also applied in December, with the arrivals of Stavros Stamatis and Toni Savevski, while Polyvios Chatzopoulos, Sotiris Mavrodimos and the last season's league top scorer, Henrik Nielsen departed. The most crucial match of the season was the away game against Olympiacos for the penultimate matchday, which was a decider for the title. The atmosphere before the match was heated, as Olympiacos cut a celebratory cake with the inscription "Olympiacos-AEK 4–0" at the "tower" of their president, Argyris Saliarelis, while at the same time AEK were doing a mini-preparation at Parnitha.[45] On 7 May, at the Olympic Stadium, Olympiacos started by pressing hard, but the defense of AEK stood up well, with Manolas even making an incredible save with his head on the goaline after a header by Détári.[46] At the 83rd minute, in a counterattack of AEK, Karagiozopoulos made the "1-2" with Okonski and with a power shot scored the "golden" goal, which gave AEK the historic title victory with 0–1.[47] Spyros Ikonomopoulos who had an incredible performance, starting in every game and with 3 crucial penalty kicks saves throughout the season, was given the nickname "Mr. Championship 1989" by the fans.[48]

1989–90 season

AEK playing against PAOK in Toumba Stadium (1989-09-17)

Ikonomopoulos

Peppes

Manolas

Chatzis

Koutoulas

Papaioannou

Savevski

Savvidis (c)

Patikas

Okoński

Batista

Lineup against Dynamo Dresden (1989-09-27)

Having won the last year's championship and with the addition of Daniel Batista in their roster, AEK started the season with great optimism. Dimitris Pittas left the club and Giannis Dintsikos had to abandon football due to health issues. AEK started well, by winning the Super Cup against Panathinaikos on penalties, while in the European Cup played against Dynamo Dresden where, despite the defeat in Germany by 1–0, with an excellent performance in the rematch of Athens, they prevailed with 5–3 and advanced to the second round. There, they faced Marseille and the first match in France, the referee canceled a clean goal by Patikas and AEK lost 2–0, while in the second match in Greece, the French reported an attack on their bus, in a match that ended 1–1, with UEFA eventually punishing AEK with one-year ban from all European competitions.[49] In the cup, the team got knocked-out for the second consecutive season of exclusion-shock in the round of 32, this time by the newly promoted Ionikos. The team played good football throughout the season and had the best defense in the league for a second consecutive year, but in the end they finished in the second place behind Panathinaikos. AEK completed their competitive obligations with the conquest of the League Cup against Olympiacos on 2 June, in an event that took place only this season.[50]

1990–91 season

AEK faced administrative problems and most of the season was part of the transitional period, as the ownership of Zafiropoulos was coming to its end and since Gidopoulos was only given the presidency of the club. AEK maintained their core roster with their main addition being that of Vaios Karagiannis from A.O. Karditsa. The team did not compete in any European competition, due to the last season's ban. In a season that was quickly forgotten, AEK finished 3rd, with the only positive element being the necessary time credit that was given to Bajević, to re-build the team for the oncoming seasons. The problems that the club was facing during the season resulted in a temporary administration led by Kostas Generakis, who was chosen by the Court of First Instance.

1991–92 season

The new management of the club put the clubs finances of in order and at the same time proceeded in great transfers with the last season's European champion with Red Star Belgrade, Refik Šabanadžović, the international striker of Aris, Vasilis Dimitriadis and talented striker from Veria, Alexis Alexandris coming in the club. However, Mirosław Okoński and Georgios Christodoulou were among the departures. On 7 September, "AEK Stadium" was renamed into "Nikos Goumas Stadium", after the former president of the club, who had a significant financial contribution to its construction.[51] Bajević, with the support of the new administration, created a very good team and AEK stared at the league almost from the beginning. In the UEFA Cup, they easily eliminated the Albanian Vllaznia Shkodër in the first round and passed obstacle of the Soviet Spartak Moscow in the second round, while in the third round they faced the Italian Torino and after two difficult matches, were eliminated. In the cup, AEK reached the semi-finals, facing PAOK and despite their 2–0 win in Athens, they were eliminated at extra time with a 3–0 loss at Thessaloniki. In the end, the team presented a solid substance in their game, playing spectacular football and won the title, with a difference of 3 points from the second Olympiacos. The top scorer of the team and of the league was Dimitriadis with 28 goals. On 27 May, Kostas Generakis resigned from the Presidency of AEK and immediately after, the businessmen, Dimitris Melissanidis and Giannis Karras expressed interest in the purchase of the shares of Zafiropoulos. On 17 June the purchase was completed with Melissanidis taking over as president and Karras as managing director and both partners immediately setting the foundations for the new season.[52]

1992–93 season

Minou

Koutoulas

Stamatis

Vasilopoulos (c)

Karagiannis

Papaioannou

Šabanadžović

Savevski

Alexandris

Slišković

Dimitriadis

Lineup against PSV Eindhoven (1992-10-21)

In the summer of 1992, the new owners of the club, Melssanidis-Karras, started their tenure by helping the club recover financially and by supporting Bajević. However, their term in the team began with great difficulties since Daniel Batista had already signed for Olympiacos, Giorgos Savvidis decided to return to Omonia, while the veterans, Makis Chatzis, Giorgos Peppes, Fanis Kofinas and Jim Patikas also departed. On the other hand, they made some useful transfers with the acquisition of Zoran Slišković, Giorgos Agorogiannis, Tasos Mitropoulos, Manolis Papadopoulos and Ilias Atmatsidis, while in December Vasilios Tsiartas and Charis Kopitsis also joined the team. Bajević again displayed a well-worked team that played impressive football and claimed the championship from the beginning of the season. In the first round of the newlly-formed, UEFA Champions League, AEK faced APOEL and after the 1–1 at Nea Filadelfeia, they hardly managed to qualify on away goals after the 2–2 at Nicosia. AEK's next opponent was the Dutch champions, PSV Eindhoven, achieving a great victory at home with a beautiful goal by Dimitriadis, but after the end of the game, the star of the Dutch, Romário, declared that PSV would not face a problem in the rematch because he himself would score 3 goals and indeed two weeks later made his "prophecy" come true, by scoring a hat-trick in the final 3–0. AEK with a total of 17 wins out of 17 games at home, being on the top of the standings for 32 of the 34 matchdays of the championship and by winning the indifferent Olympiacos in the final matchday, won the title for the second consecutive season with a 1-point difference from the second Panathinaikos. Dimitriadis was the top scorer of AEK and of the league with 33 goals in 34 matches, finishing 2nd in Europe, winning the European Silver Shoe.[53]

1993–94 season

The administration of Karras-Melissanidis, in collaboration with the Bajević, decided to make a small renewal in the roster, even though they won team won the championship of the previous season, with the older Antonis Minou, Christos Vasilopoulos, Takis Karagiozopoulos, Pavlos Papaioannou and Lampros Georgiadis leaving the club and the younger Michalis Kasapis, Vasilios Borbokis, Michalis Vlachos, Pantelis Konstantinidis and Vasilis Karagiannis coming in, while the youngsters that were acquired in the previous season, would have a more active role within the team. Bajević presented for yet another year a very strong impressive team that didn't have any problem in claiming another league title winning their main rivals, Panathinaikos, in both rounds. In the first round of the UEFA Champions League, AEK played against Arsene Wenger's Monaco and after 2 strong matches, they were eliminated with a defeat at Stade Louis II and a draw at Nikos Goumas Stadium. In the cup, AEK reached the final of the against Panathinaikos in one of the best cup finals at the Olympic Stadium, the greens took the lead with Krzysztof Warzycha and an own goal by Manolas, but the yellow-blacks equalized with 2 quick goals by Alexandris and Dimitriadis, sending the match to extra time. There, Alexandris made it 2–3, but in the final minutes Dimitris Markos equalized for Panathinaikos and the match went to penalty shooy-out, where the greens won with 4–2. Eventually, AEK won the championship easilier than the previous season and with three successive championship wins, the team established themselves as one of the most important in Greek football. The top scorer of the team was Alexandris, who alongside Warzycha were the top scorers of the league with 24 goals.

1994–95 season

Atmatsidis

Manolas (c)

Papadopoulos

Vlachos

Agorogiannis

Kasapis

Šabanadžović

Savevski

Tsiartas

Saravakos

Kostis

Lineup against Rangers (1994-08-24)

AEK, having won three consecutive championships, decided to make a transfer excess, in order to achieve a great course in the UEFA Champions League. Therefore, the talented international forward, Christos Kostis, the former Panathinaikos legend, Dimitris Saravakos, the Georgian winger Temur Ketsbaia and the promising defender Nikos Kostenoglou, stood out among the players that were transferred to the club, with the management spending over 800 milion drachmas. Furthermore, the goalkeeper, Dionysis Chiotis was promoted from the academies of the club. The last season's top scorer, Alexis Alexandris did not renew his contract and joined Olympiacos, while Tasos Mitropoulos, Frank Klopas and Zoran Slišković also departed from the club. The season did not start well for the team, as they were defeated in the Super Cup at the hands of Panathinakos.[54] AEK became the first Greek football club that participated in the newly formed group stage of the Champions League, after eliminating Scottish champions Rangers with wins at both legs. There, they were eliminated finishing third behind the Dutch champions Ajax, the Italian champions Milan, who both made it to the final and above the Austrian Casino Salzburg.[55] Despite AEK having a good team, were not able to bear the weight of the consecutive games both in Greece and Europe and were left behind in the league race. During the second round, the Melissanidis-Karras duo faced problems in their business activities and decided to search for a buyer for the club, affected negatively AEK who they finished at fifth place. Since AEK were out of the league race early on, they placed great focus on the cup and after finishing first in a group with Panargiakos, Atromitos, Kastoria and Ethnikos Asteras, they prevailed over Doxa Vyronas, then Panetolikos and Ethnikos Piraeus and in the semi-finals overcame Edessaikos with relative ease. Thus, AEK faced Panathinaikos at the Olympic Stadium on April 19, for the second consecutive season. With Saravakos missing a penalty early on, the match ended 0–0 and was led in extra time, where at the 115th minute, the greens earned a questionable penalty which was scored by Warzycha and gave the trophy to Panathinaikos. After the match, some players of AEK refused to attend the award ceremony, while a few days later the referee of the game, Filippos Bakas, was attacked by strangers.[56] Eventually, the duo of Melissanidis-Karras sold their shares to the businessman, Michalis Trochanas.[57]

1995–96 season

Atmatsidis

Manolas (c)

Vlachos

Kostenoglou

Borbokis

Kasapis

Šabanadžović

Savevski

Ketsbaia

Tsiartas

Batista

Lineup against Apollon (1996-05-15)

Τhe new major shareholder and president of the team, Michalis Trochanas in collaboration with Bajević, maintained the roster and strengthened it with the return of Daniel Batista from Olympiacos, the transfers of Christos Maladenis from Skoda Xanthi and Konstantinos Pavlopoulos from OFI. Among the departures were those of Manolis Papadopoulos and Giorgos Agorogiannis in the summer and Stavros Stamatis in the winter. In the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the team after defeating Sion in the first round, they were eliminated by Borussia Mönchengladbach afterwards. AEK had a quality roster and played some of the most spectacular football in their history, scoring 87 goals in 34 matches but finished second, behind Panathinaikos, which was much less impressive, but proved to be slightly more substantial. During the season, the team lost much of their concentration, as Bajević was reported that would not renew his contract and had agreed to join Olympiacos on the following season. Vasilios Tsiartas emerged as the team's and the league's top scorer with 26 goals. In the cup AEK left no room for doubt, after qualifying as first in their group, eliminating 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 against Apollon Athens, AEK scored a record of 7 goals and won the trophy with 7–1, despite the dismissal of Batista in the second half.

Overview

Honours Won: Greek Super Cup (1996), Greek Cup (1997)

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki (1997)

1996–97 season

Atmatsidis

Manolas (c)

Kostenoglou

Borbokis

Kasapis

Machairidis

Ketsbaia

Savevski

Nikolaidis

Kostis

Batista

Lineup against Panathinaikos (1997-04-16)

Anton Doboș

In the summer of 1996, Bajević left AEK after 8 years, joining Olympiacos and Trochanas anointed his assistant and former player of the club, Petros Ravousis, as his successor. At the same time, Vasilios Tsiartas was sold to Sevilla, the contract of Refik Šabanadžović was expired and followed Bajević to Olympiacos, Dimitris Saravakos left and Spyros Ikonomopoulos retired after 19 years at the club. On the other hand, AEK acquired the rising star of Apollon Athens, Demis Nikolaidis, who chose the yellow-blacks over Olympiacos, while also making some useful transfers, such as Anton Doboș, Triantafyllos Macheridis and Marcelo Veridiano. On 17 August, AEK played for the Super Cup against Panathinaikos and won at 9–8 at the penalty shoot-out after the 1–1 of the regular and extra time. The team played spectacular football had the best attack in the league again, but finished in second place behind the team of their former coach. In the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, AEK eliminated the Slovakian Chemlon Humenné in the first round, the Slovak Olimpija Ljubljana in the second round and were eliminated in the third round by Paris Saint Germain. In the cup, AEK went through the first round without a match and then very easily eliminated Skoda Xanthi, ILTEX Lykoi and Paniliakos. In the semi-finals, AEK faced Olympiacos of Bajević and in a heated atmosphere they won at both legs and advanced to the final for the fourth season in a row. The final against Panathinaikos took place on at the Karaiskakis Stadium, in a nervous game which ended without goals and in the penalties, where AEK won with 5–3 and got the trophy.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1997–98 season

In the summer of 1997, Trochanas with the majority of the fans against him and no longer being support financially the club, was looking for a buyer, placing in the presidency the lawer, Alexis Kougias. In the position of the coach the Romanian Dumitru Dumitriu was hired. The team lost 2 important players with Temur Ketsbaia and Vasilios Borbokis, who left for England, while the captain Stelios Manolas, did not join in the team at the start of the season, due to conflicts with Trocahanas. On the other hand, Giannis Kalitzakis, Arnar Grétarsson, Evripidis Katsavos, Theodoros Alexis, Chrysostomos Michailidis and Vangelis Kefalas were transferred to the club. The team started the championship well and eventually Trochanas sold his shares to the financially powerful, English multinational ENIC.[58] The former player of AEK, Lakis Nikolaou took over as president, Manolas returned, contract renewals were made and in January the team was strengthened with the internationals Giorgos Donis and Kelvin Sebwe. Among the departures were those of Michalis Vlachos and Konstantinos Pavlopoulos. In the cup, AEK passed through the first two rounds without a match and in the round of 32 were drawn against Skoda Xanthi from which were eliminated with 2 defeats. In the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup AEK came against the Latvian Dinaburg, which eliminated with 2 victories. Their next opponent were the Austrian Sturm Graz. The 2–0 win of the first leg in Athens was marked by the serious injury of Christos Kostis, who collided with the goalkeeper of Sturm and fractured his leg.[59] Even though losing in the rematch by 1–0, they were qualified to the quarter-finals. There, AEK faced Lokomotiv Moscow and despite the 0–0 in the first leg, AEK went to Moscow to qualify for the semi-finals. In the second leg, Lokomotiv were pressing and made the 1–0, with AEK managing to equalize and having a qualification score. The Russians pressed with AEK looking for a second goal in the counter and at the 90th minute, after a run by Sebwe, he passed to Nikolaidis, who was in the small area in front of the empty goal. However, his finish was bad and weak and was caught by the defender, while in the last minute of the match Lokomotiv entered the area of AEK and after bad clearances of the defenders and constant crosses the ball ended up in the net, leaving AEK unexpectedly out of the tournament. Despite being the winter champions, AEK were affected by the injuries on the roster, left behind in the league table and eventually could not claim the title from Olympiacos, finishing third. Towards the end of the season, Dumitriu was fired, having problems with the new administration, with the former player, Antonis Minou taking his place as an interim to close the season. The end of the season was marked by the retirement of the great Stelios Manolas after 19 years of service.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1998–99 season, Part I

Dragoslav Stepanović

The management of Nikolaou hired for the position of the coach the Serbian Dragoslav Stepanović. In the transfers of the season, those of the talented midfielder of Paniliakos, Vasilios Lakis and the international midfielders Akis Zikos and Dimitris Markos stood out, while the club also acquired the Macedonian international defender Boban Babunski and the Bulgarian international midfielder Ilian Iliev. With the retirement of the club's long-time captain, Stelions Manolas, another veteran of the club, Georgios Koutoulas left as well, with Christos Kostis and Marcelo Veridiano also departing. In the UEFA Cup AEK were drawn against Ferencváros for the second qualifying round and after a 4–2 defeat at the Stadion Albert Flórián, the yellow-blacks got the qualification in the rematch at Nea Filadelfeia Stadium winning by 4–0, with Nikolaidis scoring a hat-trick. The first round of the UEFA Cup brought AEK facing the Dutch Vitesse and at the GelreDome faced a 3–0 defeat. In the rematch in Athens all AEK could do was to avoid a second defeat with a 3–3 draw and were eliminated from the institution, with the fans having complaints for the coach and the administration. Stepanović started well, but his presence at the bench was not convincing and he was sacked after the 7th matchday.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki (1999)

1998–99 season, Part II

Oleg Blokhin

Former player Takis Karagiozopoulos took over as caretaker coach for a while and then the Ukrainian Oleg Blokhin was hired. At the same time the ex-president, Dimitris Melissanidis took over the management of the club. AEK built a decent team, while in January they were strengthened with the loan moves of Christopher Wreh and Alberto Méndez from Arsenal being the most important additions. In April, by the initiative of Melissanidis initiative, a friendly match was organised against Partizan in Belgrade, during the height of the NATO bombing of Serbia.[60][61] The players of both teams entered the stadium together, holding a banner that read "NATO stop the war, stop the bombing", with the game ending 1–1 at the 68th minute, when thousands of Serbian fans invaded the pitch to embrace the footballers.[62][63] In the end of the season, AEK could not claim the championship from Olympiacos, but they managed to beat Panathinaikos the race to the second place that led to the next season's Champions League qualifiers. The league's top scorer was Demis Nikolaidis with 22 goals.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

1999–2000 season, Part I

Milen Petkov

Melissanidis who had taken over the management, addressed the Serbian market searching the next "Dušan Bajević". The coach Ljubiša Tumbaković from Partizan arrived at AEK and brought with him Vladimir Matijašević, Gordan Petrić and Nenad Bjeković, while the club proceeded in the loan of Dragan Ćirić from Barcelona. The Greek internationals Traianos Dellas and Sotiris Konstantinidis also arrived and at the same time, Anton Doboș, Boban Babunski, Branco Milovanović, Triantafyllos Macheridis, Kevin Sebwe and most importantly Daniel Batista left the club. At the beginning of September a big earthquake took place in Parnitha and damaged part of Nikos Goumas Stadium, which was deemed unsuitable and thus AEK were forced to play most of their home mathces at Nea Smyrni Stadium.[64] In the Champions League, AEK were drawn against the Sweedish champions AIK. The team were not presented ready for the first leg at home in the 0–0 draw and in the rematch they were eliminated with 1–0, continuing in the UEFA Cup. Tumbaković did not start well as a result of which, the protests of the fans started early. Furthermore, after the exclusion from the Champions League, Melissanidis essentially left the management of the club. In the UEFA Cup, AEK faced the Georgian Torpedo Kutaisi and with wins by 0–1 and 6–1 were qualified for the second round. Their next opponent were the Hungarian MTK Budapest and despite the 2–1 defeat at the Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium, they managed to qualify with a 1–0 win at Nea Filadelfeia. In the third round, AEK came across Monaco and despite their good performance, they were eliminated with the 1–0 defeat at Stade Louis II, which was came after the 2–2 at Nikos Goumas Stadium. In the winter transfer period the team was strengthened with the transfer of Bulgarian international midfielder, Milen Petkov. Tumbaković brought irrational results and since he was left out of the European competitions, after a home defeat by Panionios he was removed from the bench of AEK.

Honours Won: Greek Cup (2000)

Runner-up: —

1999–2000 season, Part II

Atmatsidis (c)

Kalitzakis

Dellas

Kapsis

Kasapis

Zikos

Petkov

Ćirić

Lakis

Konstantinidis

Nikolaidis

Lineup against Ionikos (2000-05-10)

After a brief return of Takis Karagiozopoulos as an interim coach, Giannis Pathiakakis was hired. After the departure of Melissanidis, the multinational owners appointed the Dutch Cornelius Sierhuis as the new president, the first foreign to ever seat in that position. Pathiakakis raised the psychology of the team, however they finished in 3rd place, far from the first two places. In the cup, AEK after finishing first their respective group, winning all their matches, they passed through the round of 32 without opponent and in the round of 16 came across Trikala, which eliminated with 6–0. The draw for the quarter-finals brought AEK against Olympiacos and after the 1–1 at the Olympic Stadium, the yellow-blacks were qualified scattering their opponents with 3–0 at home. The semi-finals against Panionios was of a standard procedure, as they elminated the with a 4–1 win at home and a 2–1 loss away. In the final AEK faced Ionikos, which easily won with 3–0 and got the trophy. However, the highlight of the match was the fair play move by Nikolaidis, who after scoring a goal with his hand, asked the referee to disallow it, which led the International Olympic Committee to award him for his sportsmanship.[65]

2000–01 season, Part I

Atmatsidis (c)

Ferrugem

Kapsis

Kostenoglou

Kasapis

Zikos

Lakis

Navas

Tsiartas

Ruiz

Nikolaidis

Lineup against Bayer Leverkusen (2000-11-23)

Vasilios Tsiartas

The season started with the multinational Netmed and ENIC at the wheel of the club. Pathiakakis' trip in Latin America resulted in the transfers of Fernando Navas, Emanuel Ruiz and Ferrugem, the international midfielder Theodoros Zagorakis came from Leicester City, while Vasilios Tsiartas and Christos Kostis returned from Sevilla and Anderlecht, respectively. The departures of Dimitris Markos, Giannis Kalitzakis, Vladimir Matijašević, Arnar Grétarsson and Nenad Bjeković stood out among others. AEK started the championship mediocre. In the first round of the UEFA Cup, AEK were drawn against Hungarian Vasas and after a 2–2 at Ferenc Puskás Stadium, they were qualified at Nikos Goumas Stadium with a 2–0 win. Their next opponent were the Danish Herfølge and AEK secured the qualification from the first leg in Athens in an impressive 5–0 win with a 4-goal performance by Nikolaidis, while the second leg ended with 2–1 defeat. In the round of 32 AEK faced the German Bayer Leverkusen. In a historic night for the AEK at the BayArena, after an adventurous game they got an impressive 4–4 draw. At Nea Filadelfeia AEK achieved a huge qualification with 2–0. In the cup, AEK and qualified their group as second behind Panathinaikos and in the round of 16 were drawn against Olympiacos. In the first leg and while the score was 1–1, AEK ultras were ready to enter the pitch because of referee constantly favouring Olympiacos when the chairman of AEK, Petros Stathis instructed the players to fake injuries so that the match would stop, resulting in Olympiacos being awarded the match. In the rematch Pathiakakis made a confusing decision, using a mixture of substitutes and main players in the lineup in another nightmare evening for AEK, in a 6–1 defeat. After the game Pathiakakis left the club.[66]

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

2000–01 season, Part II

After the departure of Pathiakakis, the captain of the team, Toni Savevski, retired as a footballer and became the new coach of the team as a "duo" with Eugène Gerards.[67] AEK were strengthened with the transfers of Nikolaos Georgeas, Bledar Kola, Ivan Rusev and the loan of Hernán Medina. In the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup, AEK came against the mighty Barcelona and were eliminated with 0–1 and 5–0 defeats. In the championship the team couldn't achieve more than finishing in the third place.

Honours Won: Greek Cup (2002)

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki (2002)

Chiotis

Gamarra

Kapsis

Georgeas

Kasapis

Zikos

Zagorakis (c)

Tsiartas

Lakis

Konstantinidis

Nikolaidis

Lineup against Olympiacos (2002-04-27)

2001–02 season

Fernando Santos

The summer of 2001 found AEK once again with administrative and financial problems, as ENIC and Netmed were searching for a buyer for the club, with the controversial businessman Makis Psomiadis becoming their new boss, through the company "Ippoventure".[68] Psomiadis initially put in the position of president his friend and businessman, Filon Antonopoulos and later his cousin, Charilaos[69] and hired the Portuguese Fernando Santos as the team's coach, while adding to the roster, the Paraguayan international defender, Carlos Gamarra, as a loan from Flamengo, the Madagascarian international defender, Éric Rabésandratana and the Polish international striker, Grzegorz Mielcarski. Among the departures of the season were those of Traianos Dellas and Charis Kopitsis. The club performed well in all competitions and managed to be in the first position during the winter break. In the winter transfer period, AEK were strengthen with António Folha and Ilija Ivić, while Fernando Navas left. The 3 consecutive defeats in January allowed Olympiacos to cover the lost ground. The team continued well and competed for the title until the end. Eventually, on 20 April in the match that was deemed as "final" for the title at the Olympic Stadium, AEK lost 4–3 to Olympiacos and championship was lost in a draw with 58 points each. In the first round of the UEFA Cup, AEK faced Grevenmacher from Luxembourg and were qualified in the second round with an impressive 6–0 win at home and a 0–1 win away from home. Afterwards, AEK came across the Scottish Hibernian and after a win 2–0 at home, the Scottish equalized the score in the rematch and AEK were qualified in the extra time with a 3–2 defeat. In the third round, AEK found against them the Croatian Osijek, where the yellow-blacks were qualified with a 1–2 and a 3–2 win. Afterwards, their opponent were the Bulgarian Litex Lovech. The first match of Nea Filadelfeia AEK won with 3–2 and in the rematch sealed the qualification with a 1–1 draw. In the round of 16 they were drawn against Internazionale. In the match at Giuseppe Meazza, AEK, despite taking the lead early on, lost with 3–1. In the rematch at Nikos Goumas Stadium, were eventually eliminated with 2–2. In the cup, AEK initially qualified by playing in a group with Panserraikos, Egaleo and Nafpaktiakos Asteras. After an easy qualification over Agios Nikolaos, the next obstacle was Kilkisiakos and an even easier qualification came for the yellow-blacks. In the quarter-finals, AEK faced PAOK, where they were qualified with wins at both legs. In the semi-finals, they faced Skoda Xanthi and after the 0–0 away from home, the rematch also ended 0–0 and went to extra time, where AEK took the win with 1–0. In the final against Olympiacos, AEK took their revenge for the loss of the championship, by winning with 2–1.[70]

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: —

2002–03 season

Kostas Katsouranis

Chiotis

Wright

Kapsis

Kostenoglou

Georgatos

Katsouranis

Zagorakis

Tsiartas

Lakis

Kasapis

Nikolaidis (c)

Lineup against Real Madrid (2002-10-22)

Despite his good performance in the last season, Fernando Santos resigned, [71] due to his bad relations with Psomiadis, who made a controversial decision and brought back Dušan Bajević to replace him.[72] The return of Bajević was not well-received by the ultras who protested, as they considered his move to rivals Olympiacos in 1996 a high treason. Despite the departures of Ferrugem, Akis Zikos, Vaios Karagiannis, Bledar Kola and most importantly, Carlos Gamarra, AEK made impressive transfers with Grigoris Georgatos, Kostas Katsouranis, Michel Kreek, Mauricio Wright and Walter Centeno, while Vasilios Borbokis returned to the club and Dimitris Nalitzis came as a loan. For the qualifying round of the Champions League, AEK were drawn with APOEL and were qualified with 2–3 and 1–0 wins. AEK were placed in Group C with the "galacticos" of Real Madrid, the historic Roma and the Belgian Genk, achieving a record by drawing all six of the group stage matches,[73] eventually finishing 3rd and continued in the UEFA Cup. In January, Makis Psomiadis and his bodyguards assaulted and blackmailed Demis Nikolaidis, who filed a lawsuit against him.[74][75] Furthermore, the goalkeeper Ilias Atmatsidis was released, after 12 years at the club. Having lost his support within the club, Psomiadis left, with president of Amateur AEK, Giannis Granitsas taking charge. In the round of 32 of the UEFA Cup they faced the Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa and triumphed by achieving two of their biggest wins in European competitions with 4–0 and 1–4. In the round of 16, AEK faced the Málaga, and after a 0–0 at La Rosaleda Stadium, they were eliminated with a home defeat with 0–1. AEK presented a spectacular team and in the championship despite staying behind in the title race, with an streak of 12 wins in the last 12 games, they re-entered the race finishing third, 2 points behind the tied Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. In the cup, after eliminating Kassandra, Chalkidona, Apollon Smyrnis and Panionios, AEK were placed against PAOK in the semi-finals where they were marginally eliminated. The season was also marked by the demolition of Nikos Goumas Stadium, home to AEK Athens for 73 years.[76]

2003–04 season Part I

Chiotis

Amponsah

Kapsis

Borbokis

Georgeas

Katsouranis

Zagorakis

Tsiartas (c)

Okkas

Georgatos

Liberopoulos

Lineup against Grasshopper (2003-08-27)

The summer of 2003 started with severe financial and administrative problems, after the mismanaging of Psomiadis.[77] Furthermore, the team's star, Demis Nikolaidis terminated his contract by mutual consent and signed for Atlético Madrid,[78] while Mauricio Wright and Walter Centeno also left. The transfers of Nikos Liberopoulos from Panathinaikos[79],Ioannis Okkas from PAOK and the talented Vangelis Moras from Proodeftiki promised to revitalise the club's success amid the growing financial problems. Since the demolition of the Nikos Goumas Stadium, AEK were forced to play in various stadiums of Athens. While the roster was very good, the atmosphere was bad as the players were unpaid and Bajević was permanently at odds with the ultras, which resulted in the team's bad performances. AEK took a financial breath by joining the group stage of the Champions League, as they eliminated the Swiss Grasshopper, losing by 1–0 away and winning 3–1 at home. There, they were drawn with Monaco, Deportivo La Coruña and PSV Eindhoven and their European campaign came to an end, as the finished 4th with 2 draws and 4 defeats. In the winter transfer window, the team was weakened through the releases of Grigoris Georgatos[80] and Christos Maladenis. Modest performances were not enough and unable to cope with the negativity from a large section of the fans, Bajević resigned in January, during the match against Iraklis[81]

2003–04 season, Part II

With Bajević being a thing of the past, the Romanian Ilie Dumitrescu was appointed as a caretaker manager.[82] Nevertheless, Dumitrescu did not manage to change the situation of the team, who eventually finished in the 4th in the league. In the cup, AEK reached the semi-finals, where they got eliminated by Panathinaikos.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: Alpha Ethniki (2006), Greek Cup (2006)

2004–05 season

Chiotis

Alves

Katsouranis (c)

Bourbos

Kontis

Moras

Kyriakidis

Rusev

Júlio César

Soares

Liberopoulos

Lineup against Panathinaikos (2005-02-03)

On the brink of bankruptcy, AEK needed a miracle to prevent them from being relegated to the Greek amateur leagues. The team lost most of their UEFA Euro 2004 stars and experienced players, such as Vasilios Borbokis, Theodoros Zagorakis,[83] Michalis Kapsis, Michel Kreek, Vasilios Lakis, Vasilios Tsiartas, Ioannis Okkas and Dimitris Nalitzis who left the club in the wake of the troubles, while Michalis Kasapis and Ilija Ivić retired. The former star of the team, Demis Nikolaidis persuaded a group of businessmen to buy shares and invest money to the club and became the new club president with the support of the fans who started mass protests. His primary task was to lead AEK out of their precarious financial situation. The first success was an arrangement through the Greek justice system to write off most of the massive debt that previous club administrators had amassed and to repay any remaining public debts in manageable instalments. Securing the club's participation in the first division, Nikolaidis began the rebuild of the team. He appointed experienced former player Ilija Ivić as technical director of the club and brought back Fernando Santos as head coach.[84] Santos also brought two players from his former club Porto on loan, Paulo Assunção and Bruno Alves, while other players from the Greek market arrived such as Stavros Tziortziopoulos, Christos Kontis, Christos Bourbos, Leonidas Kampantais and Alessandro Soares. The fans, emboldened by the efforts of Nikolaidis, followed suit by buying season ticket in record numbers. With their European participation barely secured from UEFA, AEK faced the Slovenian Gorica for the first found of the UEFA Cup. The team advanced to the group stage with difficulty as with a 1–1 draw at Sports Park and a 1–0 win at Georgios Kamaras Stadium. There, they were placed in the same group with Sevilla, Lille, Zenit Saint Petersburg and Alemannia Aachen and with 4 defeats in equal matches were eliminated from the tournament. In an unprecedented climate of rallying and unity, AEK began an incredible run in the league With the winter additions of Júlio César, Serbian international and brother of Ilija, Vladan Ivić and Ilias Kyriakidis, AEK came close to winning the championship, but a surprise loss to Ionikos cost them the title. Furthermore, in the away match against Panathinaikos, where AEK had many complaints from the referee, resulted in the team finishing 3rd. The course of the team in the cup was similar, where after eliminating PANO Malia, Agios Dimitrios, Panathinaikos and Panionios, faced Olympiacos of re-hired Dušan Bajević, in the semi-finals and were eliminated despite their good performance in both matches

2005–06 season

Bruno Cirillo

The next season the club was strengthened with the returns of Vasilios Lakis[85] and Traianos Dellas,[86] while also acquiring Georgios Alexopoulos, Stefano Sorrentino,[87] Bruno Cirillo[88] and Oleh Venhlinskyi. A group of young talented Greek footballers including Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Panagiotis Kone and Vasilios Pliatsikas were also purchased. During the winter transfer period AEK signed Emerson and Pantelis Kapetanos. Chrysostomos Michailidis, Nikos Kostenoglou, Ivan Rusev, Milen Petkov, Sotiris Konstantinidis and Christos Kostis were among the most important departures. In the first round of UEFA Cup, AEK were unfortunate enough to draw against Russian fourth placed side Zenit Saint Petersburg, even though they were a seeded club. They managed to secure a 0–0 draw in Saint Petersburg, but lost 0–1 in Athens due to an 89th-minute goal by Andrei Arshavin. In the league they finished second, securing a place in the Champions League of the next season. The highlight was a 3–0 home win against Panathinaikos, with all tree goal scored in the last ten minutes. In the cup, AEK reached the final for the seventh time in the last thirteen years surpassing PAS Giannina, Ethnikos Piraeus, Niki Volos and Agrotikos Asteras and lost the trophy to Olympiacos with a 3–0 defeat.

Honours Won: —

Runner-up: Super League Greece (2007)

2006–07 season

Lorenzo Serra Ferrer

Sorrentino

Dellas (c)

Papastathopoulos

Cirillo

Tziortziopoulos

Zikos

Emerson

Tőzsér

Manduca

Júlio César

Liberopoulos

Lineup against Milan (2006-11-21)