The 2002–03 Alpha Ethniki was the 67th season of the highest football league in Greece. The season began on 24 August 2002 and ended on 25 May 2003. Olympiacos won their seventh consecutive and 32nd Greek title. Olympiacos and Panathinaikos finished the League with the same points total but Olympiacos were crowned champions due to more favourable results between the two teams. It was a very dramatic end to the season, with the decisive game between the two clubs taking place in the penultimate round. The season was interrupted by strike action after television broadcaster Alpha Digital collapsed in September 2002, following which the players didn't play for a month.
Teams
Promoted from2001–02 Beta Ethniki Relegated from2001–02 Alpha Ethniki PAS GianninaKallitheaProodeftiki Ethnikos Asteras
Stadiums and personnel
Team Manager1 Location Stadium Capacity AEK Athens Dušan Bajević Athens Nikos Goumas Stadium 27,729 Akratitos Dumitru Dumitriu Athens Giannis Pathiakakis Stadium 4,944 Aris Georgios Firos Thessaloniki Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium 22,800 Egaleo Georgios Chatzaras Athens Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium 8,217 Ionikos Jacek Gmoch Piraeus Neapoli Stadium 4,999 Iraklis Eugène Gerards Thessaloniki Makedonikos Stadium 8,100 Kallithea Babis Tennes Athens Grigoris Lambrakis Stadium 4,250 OFI Zdeněk Ščasný Heraklion Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium 9,000 Olympiacos Oleh Protasov Athens Georgios Kamaras Stadium 14,856 Panachaiki Dimitrios Genas Patras Kostas Davourlis Stadium 11,321 Panathinaikos Sergio Markarián Athens Leoforos Alexandras Stadium 16,620 Panionios Jozef Bubenko Athens Nea Smyrni Stadium 11,756 PAOK Angelos Anastasiadis Thessaloniki Toumba Stadium 28,703 PAS Giannina Nikos Anastopoulos Ioannina Zosimades Stadium 7,652 Proodeftiki Soulis Papadopoulos Piraeus Nikaia Municipal Stadium 5,000 Skoda Xanthi Nikos Karageorgiou Xanthi Xanthi Ground 9,500
1 On final match day of the season, played on 25 May 2003.
League table
Results
Relegation play-off
Ionikos retained their spot in 2003–04 Alpha Ethniki. Apollon Kalamarias placed on 2003–04 Beta Ethniki
Top scorers Source: Galanis Sports Data
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Nikos Liberopoulos Panathinaikos162 Stelios Giannakopoulos Olympiacos153 Georgios Georgiadis PAOK14 Predrag Đorđević Olympiacos5 Njogu Demba-Nyrén Aris12 Vasilios Lakis AEK Athens Demis Nikolaidis AEK Athens8 Ioannis Okkas PAOK11 Vasilios Tsiartas AEK Athens10 Alessandro Soares OFI10 Dimitris Nalitzis AEK Athens Giovanni Olympiacos Lampros Choutos Olympiacos
Awards
Annual awards Annual awards were announced on 10 November 2003.
Award Winner Club Greek Player of the Season Stelios Giannakopoulos Olympiacos Foreign Player of the Season Predrag Đorđević Olympiacos Young Player of the Season Vangelis Mantzios Panionios Goalkeeper of the Season Antonios Nikopolidis Panathinaikos Golden Boot Nikos Liberopoulos Panathinaikos Manager of the Season Dušan Bajević AEK Athens
Attendances
Panathinaikos drew the highest average home attendance in the 2002–03 Alpha Ethniki.
References
External links Greek Wikipedia Official Greek FA site Greek SuperLeague official site SuperLeague Statistics