The 2002–03 Greek Football Cup was the 61st edition of the Greek Football Cup. That season's edition was entitled "Vodafone Greek Cup" for sponsorship reasons.
Tournament details The two finalists were the arch-rivals, PAOK and Aris, meeting up again in a Cup final after 33 years. PAOK had to overcome some big obstacles to reach the final. They qualified against OFI on the away goals rule and eliminated league champions Olympiacos with two wins in the quarter-finals and Cup holders AEK Athens with 2–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
Aris had an easier path to the final. They eliminated PAS Giannina with two wins, Ethnikos Asteras with 3–2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals and qualified against Egaleo on the away goals rule in the semi-finals.
The final was held at Toumba Stadium, on 17 May 2003. PAOK defeated Aris by 1–0 with a goal scored by Georgiadis, who made an impressive individual effort, dribbling past a defender with his right foot, faking a shot with his left (outsmarting another defender and the goalkeeper in the process) and finishing with a swift side-foot kick (using his left again) that launched the ball up and into the back of the net. The assist was provided by Markos. Aris had a great chance to equalize late at the game, but the ball hit the post on Morris' effort.
During the postgame press conference, the manager of Aris, Georgios Firos made a complaint that the final should have been a two-legged tie because PAOK had the advantage of playing on home ground. Kaftanzoglio Stadium, a neutral ground and Thessaloniki 's largest stadium was under renovation for the 2004 Summer Olympic games. On 6 September 2002, the HFF Board decided that should the final be held in Thessaloniki—mandated if a local club qualified—Toumba Stadium would serve as the venue, being the second largest in the city. Nine days prior to the match, Aris submitted a request to the Federation demanding that the final be held at either the Kalamaria or Makedonikos stadium—both neutral venues with significantly lower capacities—or that a draw be held between Toumba Stadium and Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium. Both proposals were rejected, as the HFF Board unanimously reaffirmed its September decision on the matter.
The manager of PAOK, Angelos Anastasiadis, became the first in the club's history to win the Cup both as a player (in 1974) and manager.
Calendar Round Date(s) Fixtures Clubs New entries First Round 8–12, 14, 16–18, 21, 28 August & 4, 11, 12, 25 September 2002 52 52 → 26 52 Second Round 6, 7, 14, 21, 23, 30 October & 2, 6, 13 November 2002 20 26 → 16 none Round of 16 4, 11, 18, 19 December 2002 & 8, 15, 22, 23, 29 January 2003 16 16 → 8 none Quarter-finals 5, 19, 26 February & 5, 12, 19 March 2003 8 8 → 4 none Semi-finals 9, 23 April & 7 May 2003 4 4 → 2 none Final 17 May 2003 1 2 → 1 none
Knockout phase Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which were played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows: For the 1st Round draw, the 1st Division teams and the top 10 teams of the 2nd Division are seeded, the remaining teams are unseeded. From the 2nd Round draw onwards, there are no seedings.
First round The draw took place on 11 July 2002.
Seeding SeededUnseeded
Summary
Matches
Kallithea won 6–0 on aggregate
OFI won 4–0 on aggregate
Panionios won 3–1 on aggregate
Ethnikos Asteras won 2–1 on aggregate
Agios Dimitrios won 3–2 on aggregate
PAS Giannina won 3–1 on aggregate
Egaleo won 6–4 on aggregate
Olympiacos Volos won on penalties
Skoda Xanthi won 4–0 on aggregate
Ergotelis won 6–2 on aggregate
Panachaiki won 7–2 on aggregate
Akratitos won 8–0 on aggregate
Iraklis won 4–2 on aggregate
Paniliakos won 7–0 on aggregate
Panathinaikos won 5–0 on aggregate
Apollon Kalamarias won 5–4 on aggregate
Chalkidona won 6–1 on aggregate
Patraikos won 3–2 on aggregate
PAOK won 1–0 on aggregate
Kalamata won 2–1 on aggregate
AEK Athens won 2–0 on aggregate.
Aris won 6–0 on aggregate
Kerkyra won 1–0 on aggregate
Olympiacos won 4–1 on aggregate
Apollon Athens won 3–0 on aggregate
Ionikos won 4–0 on aggregate
Bracket
Second round The draw took place on 27 September 2002.
Summary
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Matches
Panionios won 2–1 on aggregate.
AEK Athens won 6–1 on aggregate.
PAOK won 2–0 on aggregate.
Panathinaikos won 1–0 on aggregate.
Akratitos won 3–1 on aggregate.
Egaleo won 4–2 on aggregate.
Olympiacos won 4–2 on aggregate.
Aris won 4–1 on aggregate.
OFI won 4–0 on aggregate.
Ethnikos Asteras won 3–2 on aggregate.
Round of 16 The draw took place on 28 November 2002.
Summary
Matches
AEK Athens won 5–0 on aggregate.
PAOK won on away goals.
Aris won 4–0 on aggregate.
Panionios won 2–1 on aggregate.
Olympiacos won 2–0 on aggregate.
Egaleo won 6–1 on aggregate.
Ethnikos Asteras won 4–1 on aggregate.
Panathinaikos won 4–0 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals The draw took place on 30 January 2003.
Summary
Matches
Egaleo won 2–1 on aggregate.
AEK Athens won 5–3 on aggregate.
Aris won 3–2 on aggregate.
PAOK won 5–2 on aggregate.
Semi-finals The draw took place on 20 March 2003.
Summary
Matches
Aris won on away goals.
PAOK won 2–1 on aggregate.
Final
Top scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Patrick Ogunsoto Ergotelis52 Panagiotis Ziakas Akratitos4 Thomas Makris Egaleo Dimitris Nalitzis AEK Athens Alessandro Soares OFI Pantelis Kolliakos Ethnikos Asteras Savvas Giannakidis8 Loukas Karakatsanis Levadiakos3 Theofanis Gekas Kallithea Lampros Choutos Olympiacos Emanuele Morini Panachaiki Fotis Mitsakis Agios Dimitrios Ilias Manikas Paniliakos Stratos Garozis Akratitos Nikos Kyzeridis Aris Christos Maladenis AEK Athens Ermin Šiljak Panionios Ioannis Okkas PAOK Sotiris Konstantinidis AEK Athens Njogu Demba-Nyrén Aris Georgios Georgiadis PAOK
References
External links Greek Cup 2002-2003 at RSSSF Greek Cup 2002-2003 at Hellenic Football Federation's official site