The 1978–79 season was the 55th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 20th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup and the European Cup. The season began on 3 September 1978 and finished on 16 June 1979.
Overview
The peculiarities of the 1978–79 season could well mark it as historic for the Greek Football, while it was also the last semi-professional season as with the enactment of law 879/79 in March, all the football clubs were obliged to be converted into S.A. to participate in the first professional championship of the next season. In the summer, there was an "epidemic" of transfers by iconic players among the major clubs, with AEK not suffering any "casualties". Georgios Delikaris moved from Olympiacos to Panathinaikos, Antonis Antoniadis followed the opposite path and Mimis Domazos left Panathinaikos. Loukas Barlos seized the chance and signed him to AEK. Thus, AEK had in their roster at the same time the two best Greek footballers of the century, both born in 1942 and named "Mimis": Papaioannou and Domazos. The addition of the Domazos to the squad, with his leadership skills and tactical mind, gave the already impressive team, the element that made them one of the most spectacular that have ever played in the Greek stadiums. Furthermore, after the departure of the manager that won them the domestic double winner, Zlatko Čajkovski for Zürich, Barlos brought to the club's bench the great Ferenc Puskás, who alongside Domazos were the architects of Panathinaikos' campaign to the 1971 European Cup Final, hoping that AEK would do a similar breakthrough at the European stage.
In the Championship, AEK started impressively and were ahead in the standings, with Olympiacos being their only rival for the title. While AEK were generously scattering goals and spectacle, while in the opposite of the event, there were many official complaints of the opponents of Olympiacos for attempts of bribery. In the 12th matchday, Oikonomou of Apollon Athens and on the 23rd and the goalkeeper of PAS Giannina, Lisa, reported of bribery on the side of Olympiacos and on the 32nd matchday, after their match against Olympiacos, Rodos punished Doxakis, Papaoikonomou and Skartados for having reduced performance in the match as Olympiacos turned their 3–1 lead in 23 minutes, with the help of the referee as well.
AEK also started their obligations in the European Cup against Porto. The quality of the opponent and the fullness of AEK foreshadowed two ambiguous matches with an uncertain outcome. In Nea Filadelfeia, AEK and their fans experienced a magical European night and witnessed the club's biggest victory in the European Cup with 6–1, which gave AEK a largely securing qualification to the next round. In the rematch AEK opened the score in the first half and in the last half hour of the match they turned off the engines as the Portuguese grabbed the opportunity and scored four goals. Next opponent for AEK, Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. The "reds" having learned not to underestimate their opponents and being aware of AEK's impressive performance against Porto, came to Nea Filadelfeia for the first leg, completely focused on their goal. Nottingham took the lead early on and at the 21st minute, AEK were left with 10 players after the suspension of Milton Viera. At the end of the half Nottingham doubled their lead and until the match was over the Englishmen played conservatively with AEK managing to reduce in the final 1–2. In the second leg AEK entered the pitch knowing well that a difficult night that awaited them. In the first half, Nottingham easily scored three goals having lost several opportunities to a widen the score, while at the second half, AEK reduced to 3–1 with a header from Bajević. Nottingham completed their imposing appearance with a 5–1 victory and eventually won the trophy.
Towards the end of the Championship, AEK presented an inexplicable decline in their performance and in the face of the risk of losing the title after the away defeat by Aris on March 11, Barlos decided to remove Puskás from bench of the team and assigned it to his assistant, Andreas Stamatiadis for the rest of the season. In the Cup, it was the first year that the two legged tie, for the quarter-finals and the semi-finals were established, according to the model of European cups. AEK marched through the first three rounds eliminating Kavala, Proodeftiki and Acharnaikos, respectively. In the quarter-final against Anagennisi Epanomi after a 1–1 away draw, AEK won 2–0 in the second leg and qualified to the semi-finals where they faced Panachaiki. In Patras, they were defeated by 3–2, but at home AEK won easily by 5–1. In the final AEK met Panionios who came from two consecutive unexpected qualifications. In the match, while AEK managed to take the lead early on, Panionios succeeded in putting AEK to "sleep", by not letting them impose their frenetic tempo and completed the comeback winning by 3–1, in one of the biggest surprises in the history of the institution.
The end of the Championship found AEK and Olympiacos, even in the first place with 56 points 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 relegation, were not going to show up to the match. The excuse was the protest for the refereeing of Charalampos Pamporidis against OFI in the last matchday, considering him responsible for not managing to complete the comeback of a 3–1 loss that would resulted in winning the league. On June 16, at the stadium on Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, AEK were the only team lined up on the pitch. The absence of Olympiacos automatically declared AEK champion with a 2–0 victory without a match. During the season AEK were an unstoppable football machine that dismantled their opponents as they achieved the league's best offense with a total of 90 goals, rewarding their opponents 6 times with 5 goals and 2 with 7 goals. 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. In the third place of the top scorers of the league was Dušan Bajević with 24 goals and in the 8th, Takis Nikoloudis with 12. That season would be the last at AEK for the emblematic leader, Mimis Papaioannou which after 17 consecutive years of presence, he would be passed on the pantheon of the legends in the history of the club.
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 16 June 1979, 23:59 UTC+3.
PlayerNat.Position(s)Date of birth (Age)SignedPrevious clubTransfer feeContract until Goalkeepers Nikos Christidis GK 1976 Aris ₯1,500,000 1984 Lakis Stergioudas GK 1972 Niki Poligyrou ₯36,000 1981 Defenders Apostolos Toskas CB 1969 Trikala ₯1,500,000 1981 Lakis Nikolaou (Captain) CB / RB / ST / RW 1971 Atromitos ₯600,000 1979 Babis Intzoglou RB / LB / CB 1976 Panionios ₯3,000,000 1984 Giannis Mousouris RB / RM / ST 1977 AEL ₯2,500,000 1985 Petros Ravousis CB / RB 1972 Aetos Skydra Free 1981 Aris Damianidis CB / RB 1977 Egaleo ₯3,500,000 1985 Dimitris Kotsos LB 1978 Kastoria Free 1986 Theodoros Apostolopoulos RB / LB 1978 AEK Athens U20 — 1986 Midfielders Mimis Domazos AM / SS 1978 Panathinaikos Free 1979 Milton Viera CM / DM 1977 Olympiacos Free 1980 Lazaros Papadopoulos RM / RB / LM / LB / RW / LW 1973 Veria ₯1,300,000 1981 Dionysis Tsamis CM / DM / AM 1972 Panetolikos ₯2,350,000 1981 Takis Nikoloudis CM / AM / RM / LM 1976 Iraklis Free 1984 Christos Ardizoglou RM / LM / RW / LW / AM / RB / LB 1974 Apollon Athens ₯12,000,000 1982 Giorgos Vlantis CM / AM 1976 AEK Athens U20 — 1984 Forwards Mimis Papaioannou (Vice-captain) SS / ST / AM / RW 1962 Veria ₯175,000 1980 Dušan Bajević ST / SS 1977 Velež Mostar Free 1980 Tasos Konstantinou RW / SS / ST / RM / AM 1972 EPA Larnaca ₯600,000 1980 Thomas Mavros ST / LW 1976 Panionios ₯10,000,000 1983 Dimitris Kokkinopoulos RW / RM 1978 AEK Athens U20 — 1986 From Reserve Squad Spyros Ikonomopoulos GK 1977 AO Akratas — Panagiotis Stylianopoulos RB / LB / RM / DM — AEK Athens U20 — Christos Kalaitzidis LM / LW / LB 1973 PO.K.E. —
Transfers
In
PlayerFromFeeDateContract Until – Greek and Cypriot professional footballers were bound to their clubs for eight years, effectively functioning as eight-year contracts.Source AEK Athens U20Promotion30 June 1986 KastoriaFree transfer30 June 1986 PanathinaikosFree transfer30 June 1979 AEK Athens U20Promotion30 June 1986
Out
PlayerToFeeDateSource AELContract termination OlympiacosContract termination AcharnaikosContract termination IlisiakosContract termination
Contract renewals
PlayerDateFormer Exp. DateNew Exp. DateSource 30 June 197931 June 1980
Overall transfer activity
Expenditure: ₯0
Income: ₯0
Net Total: ₯0
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions
Overall record
Alpha Ethniki
League table
Results summary
Results by Matchday
Matches
Championship play-off
Greek Cup
Matches
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
European Cup
First round
Second round
Statistics
Squad statistics
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| From Reserve Squad
Goalscorers
The list is sorted by competition order when total goals are equal, then by position and then alphabetically by surname. RankPlayerAlpha EthnikiGreek CupEuropean CupTotal131 7 240224 9 336312 3 0154 4 2 285 6 0 176 5 0 057 3 0 038 2 0 02 1 1 02 1 0 12 0 2 02Own goals 1 0 01Totals 90 24 9123
Hat-tricks Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored. PlayerAgainst Result Date Competition Source Dušan Bajević Iraklis 5–1 (H) 1 October 1978 Alpha Ethniki Thomas Mavros Kavala 5–2 (H) 8 November 1978 Greek Cup Dušan Bajević4 Panserraikos 5–0 (H) 31 December 1978 Alpha Ethniki Thomas Mavros AEL 4–2 (H) 14 January 1979 Alpha Ethniki Thomas Mavros Egaleo 5–0 (H) 4 February 1979 Alpha Ethniki Thomas Mavros Panserraikos 5–2 (A) 6 May 1979 Alpha Ethniki Thomas Mavros Kavala 7–0 (H) 27 May 1979 Alpha Ethniki
Clean sheets
The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal and then alphabetically by surname. Clean sheets in games where both goalkeepers participated are awarded to the goalkeeper who started the game. Goalkeepers with no appearances are not included. RankPlayerAlpha EthnikiGreek CupEuropean CupTotal113 0 0132 2 3 05Totals15 3 018
Disciplinary record
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| From Reserve Squad
Starting 11 This section presents the most frequently used formation along with the players with the most starts across all competitions.
Formation Matchday(s)404–3–31–34
Player Lakis StergioudasGKPetros RavousisRCBLakis Nikolaou (C)LCBGiannis MousourisRBChristos ArdizoglouLBDionysis TsamisDMMimis DomazosRCMTakis NikoloudisLCMTasos KonstantinouRWThomas MavrosLWDušan BajevićCF
Awards PlayerAwardSource Thomas Mavros FW Alpha Ethniki Top Scorer Dušan Bajević FW Greek Cup Top Scorer
References
External links