The 1996–97 season was the 73rd season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 38th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup, the Greek Super Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The season began on 11 August 1996 and finished on 25 May 1997.
Kits
Overview In the summer of 1996 a very important season begun for AEK Athens, since for the first time after 8 years they were called to proceed without their longest-serving manager, Dušan Bajević. With the move of Bajević to Olympiacos, Michalis Trochanas anointed his assistant and former player of AEK, Petros Ravousis, as his successor at the team's bench. At the same time, the leaguesl's top scorer, Vasilios Tsiartas was sold to Sevilla, while Refik Šabanadžović followed Bajević to Olympiacos, after his contact with AEK was expired. Furthermore, since before the end of the previous season, Dimitris Saravakos had decided to depart from the club and Spyros Ikonomopoulos ended his career after 19 years of service. On the other hand, AEK among the arrivals was the signing of the rising star from Apollon Athens, Demis Nikolaidis, who turned out the offer of Olympiacos, in order to join the team that he supported from childhood.
On 17 August, AEK played in the Super Cup facing Panathinaikos. The yellow-blacks took the lead at the 88th minute with Savevski, but they were equalized in the 90th minute by Alexoudis and the match went to extra time. Michalis Vlachos was sent-off between the 2 goals and AEK played with 10 players for the rest of the match. The score remained in extra time and the match went to the penalty shoot-out. After many penalties were taken, AEK were the eventual winners, with 8–9 and Kopitsis scoring for a second time from the spot.
The team was in a "frantic tempo" from the previous season and played impressive football. For a second season in a row they had the best attack in the league, but again finished in second place. However, both AEK and most of the clubs of the league had intense complaints about the favorable treatment by the referees to Olympiacos throughout the season, since at that time was the beginning of the well-known "shack" of Greek football. By far the most important moment of the season was the return of Bajević to Nea Filadelfeia on 13 January. The stadium was packed again, the match went on as usual and the AEK supporters created an electrified atmosphere of hatred and thirst for revenge against their former favorite manager. Banknotes with the image of Bajević were falling on the manager of Olympiacos, abusive slogans, insulting banners, composed a very strongly electrified atmosphere. Eventually, in a match where the players of AEK "deposited their souls" and the crowd was the "twelfth player", AEK won in the muddy pitch by 2–0. The biggest victories of the season for the championship were the 0–7 against Athinaikos, the 6–1 against Iraklis, Kalamata and Athinaikos once again. Towards the end of the season, Trochanas started causing issues with his announcements, since he went against Ravousis due to the exclusion of the team in Europe and the football department was once again a mess resulting in the latter's departure at the end of the season.
In the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, AEK were still redeeming their return to the elite of European football with good draws. This time, their opponent were the Slovak Chemlon Humenné. The first match in Athens ended with a 1–0 win and qualification remained open. The rematch in the weather-heavy Humenné started in the worst possible way, as the Slovak took the lead scoring in their first attack after 19 seconds and everything showed to another very tense European game by AEK. However, the capacity difference was so great and as soon as AEK overcame the shock of goal, the qualification case ended with quick procedures as they complete the comeback by the end of the first half. In the second round, AEK came across Olimpija Ljubljana. Ravousis made it clear to the players that this time there was no place for underestimation and indifference and AEK presented themselves extremely serious at the Bežigrad Stadium winning with 0–2 and finishing the qualification. The Slovenians step on the pitch of Nea Filadelfeia and for the first time in their career face a fanatical crowd that pushed AEK into the spectacle and end up losing with the 4–0, despite defending massively. AEK advanced to the third round and participated in the March draw where the major European clubs were present. Paris was painted yellow and black as the draw brought the title holder, Paris Saint-Germain as the opponent of AEK and 5,000 Greeks rushed to the Parc des Princes to support AEK. Michel Platini was commentating on the pitch, who along with 40,000 French people, was watching the two stands of the Greeks who create an amazing atmosphere. AEK presented with defensive orientations and Manolas, perhaps in his last big game with, AEK kept and even loses chances on the counter, since the French are impossible to hold Ketsbaia and Batista. The game ended scoreless, and during the following 15 days, everyone's mind was on the rematch in Athens. Nikos Goumas Stadium was suffocating two hours before the game on 20 March, AEK entered the match offensively and pressed for a goal. In the 21st minute, the referee did not whistle Loko's foul on Vlachos and the Frenchman was unmarked and scored. AEK tried to react, their audience continued to push them relentlessly, but the goal did not come and instead came the second goal for Paris, again with Loko, just before half-time. The qualification was, AEK were doing everything they could to avoid defeat and with Ravousis' desperate attempt to get something good from the match was left very exposed at the back, as a result of which conceded a third goal, again from Patris Loko, ten minutes before the final whistle.
For the Cup, AEK first went through the first round without a match and then very easily eliminated Skoda Xanthi. Then, had an easy task against the ILTEX Lykoi, which he confirmed on the pitch. In the quarter-finals, they played against Paniliakos, beating him in Nikos Goumas Stadium with 3–1, while easily defeating him in Pyrgos Stadium with 0–2. In the semi-finals, AEK faced Olympiacos of Bajević, who returned to Nea Filadelfeia for the second time within a month! The "welcoming" of the Bosnian and Olympiacos was again very heated, AEK again played an incredibly spirited match and led with 2 goals. However, Olympiacos re-entered the qualification game, after a goal by Alexandris in stoppage time. In the rematch in Piraeus, Olympiacos pressed, AEK defended properly and in a nice counterattack in the 47th minute, Ketsbaia made a huge distance with the ball at his feet and finally gave an open goal to Nikolaidis who did not miss the chance to score. The yellow-blacks then kept the score and advance, although again they played with a player short due to the dismissal of Manolas. Thus, AEK advanced to the final of the competition for the fourth season in a row. The final against Panathinaikos took place on 16 April at the Karaiskakis Stadium, in a particularly nervous game which ended without goals both in regular time and in extra time. In the penalty shoot-out, AEK finally got the big victory and the trophy with Atmatsidis as their protagonist, who also scored the last penalty of AEK.
Top scorer of the season for the team was Christos Kostis with 21 goals, while Demis Nikolaidis scored 19 goals. Apart from these two players, Ketsbaia, Manolas, Savevski, Batista, Atmatsidis, Kasapis and Borbokis had also an excellent performance.
Management team
Players
Squad information
NOTE: The players are the ones that have been announced by the AEK Athens' press release. No edits should be made unless a player arrival or exit is announced. Updated 25 May 1997, 23:59 UTC+3.
PlayerNat.Position(s)Date of birth (Age)SignedPrevious clubTransfer feeContract until Goalkeepers Ilias Atmatsidis (Vice-captain 2) GK 1992 Pontioi Veria ₯40,000,000 1999 Vasilis Karagiannis GK 1993 Diagoras ₯20,000,000 1998 Dionysis Chiotis GK 1995 AEK Athens U20 — 2005 Defenders Stelios Manolas (Vice-captain) CB / RB 1980 AEK Athens U20 — 1997 Anton Doboș CB 1996 Steaua București ₯60,000,000 1999 Georgios Koutoulas CB / LB 1987 AEK Athens U20 — 1999 Michalis Vlachos (Vice-captain 3) CB / DM 1993 Olympiacos Free 1997 Vaios Karagiannis LB / CB 1990 A.O. Karditsa ₯11,000,000 2000 Konstantinos Pavlopoulos CB 1995 OFI Free 1998 Vasilios Borbokis RB / RM 1993 Apollon Kalamarias Free 1997 Charis Kopitsis RB / RM / LB / LM 1992 Panionios Free 1997 Nikos Kostenoglou CB / RB 1994 Skoda Xanthi ₯70,000,000 1998 Michalis Kasapis (Captain) LB / LM 1993 Levadiakos ₯25,000,000 1998 Midfielders Toni Savevski CM / LM / DM 1988 Vardar ₯34,000,000 1999 Temur Ketsbaia RM / LM / RW / LW / AM / CM 1994 Anorthosis Famagusta ₯100,000,000 1997 Triantafyllos Macheridis DM / CB / RB / LB 1996 Skoda Xanthi ₯100,000,000 2001 Christos Maladenis CM / RM / LM / AM / DM / RW / LW / SS 1995 Skoda Xanthi ₯100,000,000 2000 Mattheos Platakis AM / ST / SS 1996 Phinikas Polichini Free 2000 Forwards Daniel Batista ST / SS / AM 1995 Olympiacos Free 1998 Marcelo Veridiano ST / SS 1996 Skoda Xanthi ₯35,000,000 1998 Christos Kostis SS / ST / AM / RW / LW 1994 Iraklis ₯350,000,000 1998 Giorgos Kartalis ST / SS 1996 Triglia Rafinas ₯4,000,000 2001 Demis Nikolaidis ST / SS 1996 Apollon Athens ₯330,000,000 1999 Ilias Anastasakos ST / LW / LM 1995 A.O. Dafniou Free 2002 Left during Winter Transfer Window Vasilis Dimitriadis ST 1991 Aris ₯95,000,000 1998
Transfers
In
Summer
PlayerFromFeeDateContract UntilSource Steaua București₯60,000,00030 June 1999 Skoda Xanthi₯100,000,00030 June 1999 KavalaLoan return30 June 1998 Phinikas PolichiniFree transfer30 June 2000 Triglia Rafinas₯4,000,00030 June 2001 Apollon Athens₯330,000,00030 June 1999 Skoda Xanthi₯35,000,00030 June 1998
Out
Summer
PlayerToFeeDateSource Retired OlympiacosEnd of contract Apollon AthensFree transfer Sevilla₯500,000,000 Free agentContract termination
Notes
a. plus Pantelis Konstantinidis. b. and a friendly game between the two clubs.
Winter
PlayerToFeeDateSource ArisContract termination
Loan out
Summer
PlayerToFeeDateUntilOption to buySource EdessaikosFree30 June 1997
Contract renewals
PlayerDateFormer Exp. DateNew Exp. DateSource 30 June 199630 June 1999 30 June 199630 June 1997 30 June 199730 June 2000 30 June 199630 June 1999 30 June 199730 June 1998
Overall transfer activity
Expenditure Summer: ₯529,000,000
Winter: ₯0
Total: ₯529,000,000
Income Summer: ₯500,000,000
Winter: ₯0
Total: ₯500,000,000
Net Totals Summer: ₯29,000,000
Winter: ₯0
Total: ₯29,000,000
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions
Overall record
Alpha Ethniki
League table
Results summary
Results by Matchday
Matches
Greek Cup
AEK Athens entered the Greek Cup at the round of 32.
Round of 32
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Greek Super Cup
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
First round
Second round
Quarter-finals
Statistics
Squad statistics
! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers
! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders
! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders
! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards
! colspan="13" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Left during Winter Transfer Window
Goalscorers
The list is sorted by competition order when total goals are equal, then by position and then alphabetically by surname. RankPlayerAlpha EthnikiGreek CupGreek Super CupCup Winners' CupTotal121 1 0 224219 3 0 1233 7 2 0 3124 5 5 0 1115 6 3 0 096 4 0 1 167 4 0 0 04 2 2 0 049 1 2 0 03 0 3 0 0311 2 0 0 02 2 0 0 02 1 1 0 0214 0 0 0 11Own goals 1 0 0 01Totals 75 22 1 9107
Hat-tricks