The 2019–20 season was the 96th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 59th competitive season and fifth consecutive in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Super League, the Greek Cup and the Europa League. The season began on 8 August 2019 and finished on 12 September 2020.
Kits
Overview The season started with changes in the entire technical staff of the club. In the summer of 2019, after it had quickly become clear that Manolo Jiménez would not continue on the team's bench, AEK turned to the Iberian market for the position of manager, willing to present a different image on the pitch. They soon ended up with Miguel Cardoso, a manager with controversial career. Transfers included the return of Ognjen Vranješ, the signing of 4 Portuguese, Paulinho, David Simão, Francisco Geraldes and Nélson Oliveira, while Daniele Verde also arrived. Important players, such as Vasilios Lampropoulos, Rodrigo Galo and Anastasios Bakasetas departed, while the loans of Alef, Lucas Boyé and Ezequiel Ponce expired.
The team started their competitive obligations in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, facing Universitatea Craiova. In the first match at Stadionul Ion Oblemenco that was empty of spectators due to Craiova's suspension for incidents in their previous match, AEK could not threaten the Romanians. The entrance of Livaja on the pitch changed everything with the Croatian forward achieving a goal and an assist forming the final 0–2, which almost sealed the qualification. In the empty Olympic Stadium, due to the punishment of AEK for the incidents of the previous season, the rematch took place that everyone expected to be a walk for the yellow-blacks. AEK took the lead relatively early in the game, but afterwards everyone eased up, with the Romanians not only equalizing in the second half but missing a lot of opportunities to take the lead and chase and qualification. Nevertheless, the score remained at 1–1 and AEK took the qualification. In the first match for the play-offs of the competition against were against the Trabzonspor at home. The stadium was empty of spectators yet again and AEK made dream start with a goal by Livaja in just 4 minutes in the game. However, the Turks equalized later on and as a result the performance of the yellow-blacks collapsed, conceding two more goals, while they could well have easily conceded more. The crushing failure in the match combined with the second consecutive home defeat three days later at the hands of Xanthi, resulted in the sacking of not only Miguel Cardoso and his staff, but of the technical director, Nikos Liberopoulos, as well. The management replaced the Portuguese with the until-then U19 team manager and former player of the club, Nikos Kostenoglou in his third spell at the bench of the team. Thus, AEK went to Şenol Güneş Stadium and after a great performance, dominated their opponents and won by 0–2, losing the qualification on away goals.
With Kostenoglou at the bench, the team showed the feeling of self-preservation and gave a boost in their performance, but the season seemed to be problematic from the start. AEK were presenting last year's problems and could not follow Olympiacos and PAOK in the title race. Thus, at the beginning of December, the management ended their collaboration with Kostenoglou. The new technical director, Ilija Ivić brought in well-known manager, Massimo Carrera, who had previously success with Spartak Moscow. The Italian entered with great appetite and the club showed willingness to strengthen their roster, after acquiring on loan Damian Szymański and Sergio Araujo, in his third spell at the club. AEK were going through a good period in terms of results, ending up in third place before the start of the play-offs.
During that period the crisis COVID-19 pandemic began, and the banning measures of all sporting activities slow down the course of AEK and essentially put the completion of the season in uncertainty. Eventually, the season restarted in early June with the play-offs. There, AEK did not maintain the same image as they did before the interruption and lost the opportunity to finish second in a match that was accompanied by the incomprehensible for many decision of the administration not to object to the match against PAOK since the latter team had knowingly come down with unreviewed health cards of the footballers, which would have resulted in their nullification in this particular match if AEK had done what the law stipulates.
In the Cup, AEK easily passed through Asteras Tripolis in the round of 16 and Panetolikos in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, they faced Aris and after an easy 2–1 win in the first at home, which was the last with crowd before the lockdown, went to Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium three months later. Aris took a 2–0 lead and were close to qualifying, but AEK woke up and scored in the final minutes to take the match into extra time. From there had an easy task as they equalized, missing many chances to win the match, as well. Thus, the yellow-blacks were qualified to the final undefeated and for fourth consecutive year. This time their opponent were Olympiacos who had won the league. The match was originally scheduled for 26 July, but was postponed, due to the pressure of Olympiacos to the HFF in order to change the stadium from Georgios Kamaras Stadium to Olympic Stadium and after the refusal of the Hellenic Police for the first stadium. The final was rescheduled for 30 August in the Olympic Stadium but it was postponed again because two days before the game Olympiacos' player, Maximiliano Lovera, was tested positive for COVID-19 and was rescheduled again for 12 September at Panthessaliko Stadium. Due to the delay of the match, the clubs had to compete without the players acquired from the 2020 summer transfer period, by decision of the UEFA. In the match AEK came into the match strongly, but conceded a goal due to individual mistakes, while afterwards they surrendered and played without a plan. Until the end, the psychologically unprepared AEK were unable to seriously threaten the red and whites and were defeated with 0–1 by an extremely inadequate Olympiacos. That was the fourth consecutive defeat in a Cup final and showed that psychologically the team had started to show big issues in managing high-pressure games.
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 12 September 2020, 23:59 UTC+3.
No.PlayerNat.Position(s)Date of birth (Age)SignedPrevious clubTransfer feeContract until Goalkeepers 1 Vasilis Barkas GK 2016 Atromitos €600,000 2022 16 Panagiotis Tsintotas GK 2017 Levadiakos Free 2023 30 Georgios Athanasiadis GK 2019 Asteras Tripolis Free 2023 Defenders 2 Michalis Bakakis (Vice-captain 2) RB / LB / CB / RM 2014 Panetolikos €250,000 2023 3 Hélder Lopes LB / LM / LW 2017 Las Palmas Free 2022 4 Marios Oikonomou CB / LB 2019 Bologna €700,000 2022 15 Žiga Laci CB 2020 Mura €400,000 2023 19 Dmytro Chyhrynskyi CB 2016 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Free 2021 21 Ognjen Vranješ CB / RB 2019 Anderlecht Free 2020 23 Niklas Hult LB / LM 2018 Panathinaikos €200,000 2020 24 Stratos Svarnas CB / RB 2018 Xanthi Free 2023 27 Paulinho RB / RM 2019 Chaves Free 2021 31 Konstantinos Stamoulis CB / RB 2018 AEK Athens U19 — 2021 Midfielders 5 Damian Szymański CM / DM / AM 2020 Akhmat Grozny €200,000 2020 6 Nenad Krstičić CM / DM / AM 2019 Red Star €500,000 2022 8 André Simões (Vice-captain) DM / CM 2015 Moreirense Free 2022 20 Petros Mantalos (Captain) AM / LM / CM / LW / SS / RM / RW 2014 Xanthi €500,000 2022 25 Konstantinos Galanopoulos CM / DM 2015 AEK Athens U20 — 2021 44 Anel Šabanadžović CM / DM 2019 Željezničar €450,000 2023 51 Giannis Sardelis AM / CM / RW / LW 2018 AEK Athens U19 — 2021 70 Giannis Fivos Botos AM / CM / LM / RM 2018 AEK Athens U19 — 2023 Forwards 7 Daniele Verde RW / RM / SS / LW / LM / ST 2019 Roma €1,000,000 2022 10 Marko Livaja SS / ST / AM / LW / RW / LM / RM 2018 Las Palmas €1,800,000 2021 11 Sergio Araujo ST / SS / LW / RW 2020 Las Palmas €500,000 2020 14 Christos Albanis LW / RW / LM / RM / SS 2018 Apollon Smyrnis €400,000 2021 17 Victor Klonaridis SS / LW / RW / LM / RM / ST / AM / CM 2017 Lens €200,000 2020 18 Nélson Oliveira ST / SS 2019 Norwich City €1,000,000 2021 52 Efthymis Christopoulos ST / SS / RW / LW 2020 AEK Athens U19 — 2023 53 Theodosis Macheras LW / RW / RM / LM 2020 AEK Athens U19 — 2023 Left during Winter Transfer Window 28 Stavros Vasilantonopoulos RB / RM / LM / DM 2015 Apollon Smyrnis Free 2021 12 Francisco Geraldes AM / CM / RM / LM 2019 Sporting CP Free 2020 22 David Simão CM / AM / DM 2019 Antwerp €400,000 2022 39 Erik Morán DM / CM 2018 Leganés €130,000 2021 9 Giorgos Giakoumakis ST / SS 2017 Platanias €300,000 2021 77 Christos Giousis RW / LW / RM / LM / SS / AM 2017 AEK Athens U20 — 2022 — Miloš Deletić RW / LW / RM / LM / SS / AM / ST / CM 2019 AEL Free 2022
Transfers
In
Summer
PlayerFromFeeDateContract UntilSource7 Roma€1,000,00030 June 20229 OFILoan return30 June 202111 AELFree transfer30 June 202218 Norwich City€1,000,00030 June 202122 Antwerp€400,00030 June 202227 ChavesFree transfer30 June 202128 LamiaLoan return30 June 202030 Asteras TripolisFree transfer30 June 202339 MálagaLoan return30 June 202144 ŽeljezničarLoan return31 December 2023— SpartaLoan return30 June 2020— Agioi AnargyroiLoan return30 June 2021— Ethnikos PiraeusFree transfer30 June 2022— PaniliakosLoan return30 June 2021— Apollon PontusLoan return30 June 2022— ErgotelisLoan return30 June 2020— DiagorasLoan return30 June 2022— SpartaLoan return30 June 2019
Winter
PlayerFromFeeDateContract UntilSource15 Mura€400,00031 December 202352 AEK Athens U19Promotion30 June 202353 AEK Athens U19Promotion30 June 2023— KalamataLoan termination30 June 2021— KalamataLoan termination30 June 2021— VolosLoan termination30 June 2023— KalamataLoan termination30 June 2021
Out
Summer
PlayerToFeeDateSource5 Deportivo La CoruñaEnd of contract11 Apollon LimassolContract termination12 AtromitosEnd of contract14 Alanyaspor€700,00015 Universitatea CraiovaFree transfer22 RomaLoan return31 TorinoLoan return40 PAS GianninaContract termination95 BragaLoan return— Doxa DramaEnd of contract— Thyella KamariFree transfer— ErgotelisFree transfer— AiolikosFree transfer— Apollon PontusEnd of contract
Winter
PlayerToFeeDateSource12 Sporting CPLoan termination39 NumanciaFree transfer— FužinarFree transfer
Loan in
Summer
PlayerFromFeeDateUntilOption to buySource12 Sporting CPFree21 AnderlechtFree
Winter
PlayerFromFeeDateUntilOption to buySource5 Akhmat Grozny€200,00011 Las Palmas€500,000
Loan out
Summer
PlayerToFeeDateUntilOption to buySource33 Alki OrokliniFree99 AspropyrgosFree— KalamataFree— FostirasFree— VolosFree— ErgotelisFree— KalamataFree— KalamataFree
Winter
PlayerToFeeDateUntilOption to buySource9 Górnik ZabrzeFree11 Asteras TripolisUndisclosed22 Hapoel Be'er ShevaFree28 Górnik ZabrzeFree— Ethnikos PiraeusFree— IonikosFree— PlataniasFree— PlataniasFree
Notes
a. Plus 30% resale fee.
Contract renewals
PlayerDateFormer Exp. DateNew Exp. DateSource19 30 July 202030 June 202128 30 June 202030 June 202170 30 June 202130 June 2023
Overall transfer activity
Expenditure Summer: €2,400,000
Winter: €1,100,000
Total: €3,500,000
Income Summer: €700,000
Winter: €0
Total: €700,000
Net Totals Summer: €1,700,000
Winter: €1,100,000
Total: €2,800,000
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions
Overall record
Super League Greece
Regular season
League table
Results summary
Results by Matchday
Matches
Play-off round
Table
Results summary
Results by Matchday
Matches
Greek Cup
AEK Athens entered the Greek Cup at the round of 16.
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
UEFA Europa League
Third qualifying round