The 1976–77 season was the 53rd season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 18th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup and the UEFA Cup. The season began on 15 September 1976 and finished on 26 June 1977.
Overview
The vision that Loukas Barlos had entrusted to František Fadrhonc was beginning to take shape. In the summer of 1976, Barlos, loyal to his transfer approach, continued to strengthen the squad with prominent signings. The experienced goalkeeper of Aris, Nikos Christidis, the diligent shooter and free-kick specialist of Iraklis, Takis Nikoloudis and the dynamic defender of Panionios, Babis Intzoglou were integrated in the team of Fadrhonc. At the same time, Thomas Mavros eventually became eligible to crown their offense, after the end of the legal dispute with Panionios that kept him out of football activity throughout the previous season. Fadrhonc, considering the playing intelligence and technical qualities of Mimis Papaioannou, decided to relocate him as a "classic number 10", in order to fit all the great attackers that the club had to offer.
The negative results that were occurred in matches that coincided near European games, costed AEK points that prevented them from winning the title. As a result, AEK finished 4th place with 51 points, but at a distance of only 3 points from the top, as the first 4 teams finished with 54, 52, 52 and 51 points, respectively. Thomas Mavros showed from the beginning a sample of his skills, by scoring with 18 goals in the league.
In the Cup, AEK eliminated away from home both Proodeftiki and Iraklis in the first and second round, respectively. In the round of 16, AEK, again away from home, faced PAOK and were eliminated by a 2–1 defeat.
The campaign in the UEFA Cup
The season was overshadowed by the European course of AEK to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, which was the biggest international distinction of the club and second greatest in Greek football at a club level at the time, after the campaign of Panathinaikos to the 1971 European Cup Final.
The draw for the first round of the UEFA Cup, brought AEK facing the Soviet club, Dynamo Moscow. The opponent was considered anything but easy, as the Dynamo players were the backbone of the Soviet national team. At Nea Filadelfeia, Dynamo started offensively, but AEK balanced the game and in the 34th minute won a foul outside the area. Nikoloudis introduced to the fans of AEK his power free-kicks and opened the score. AEK continued in pressuring their opponents and took the victory by 2–0. The yellow-blacks entered the Central Dynamo Stadium in icy Moscow and at the end of the first half were back at the score by 1–0, while at the beginning of the second half Dynamo managed to equalize the score of the first match. The match was led to extra time, where at the 119th minute in AEK's last offensive effort, Wagner attempted a shot from the right which was blocked by Dolmatov's hand who, fortunately for AEK, was not the goalkeeper. The referee gave the undisputed penalty and Konstantinou, showing unparalleled composure, sent the ball to the right, the goalkeeper at the opposite direction and AEK Athens to the next round.
AEK entered the draw of the next round, where they were found themselves against Derby County. The opponent's size was huge considering that the creation of Brian Clough were English champion in 1972 and 1975, FA Community Shield winner of 1975 and semi-finalists at the 1972–73 European Cup. In the first match at Athens, AEK had a great performance and won 2–0. At the second leg AEK were lucky to have Lakis Stergioudas in perhaps the greatest night of his career, keeping the 0–0 at the half time. At the second half Derby opened the score, bringing AEK in distress. However, AEK increased their tempo and at the 64th minute they managed to equalize by a free-kick by Nikoloudis. AEK did not stop there, as at the 77th minute took the lead and 8 minutes later they doubled their advantage. The final 2–3 found AEK qualifying to the next round and were the first club in European tournaments' history to achieve a victory in English ground.
AEK were drawn for the third round, against Red Star Belgrade. At AEK Stadium, AEK were superior taking the lead early on and after an imposing performance won with the poor 2–0. At the rematch in Belgrade, the apparent superiority of AEK in the first match was not confirmed at the beginning of the match, as the Yugoslavs were ahead from the 20th minute. AEK, managed to equalize 5 minutes later only to find themselves back in the score by 2 goals at the end of the half time. Red Star needed just one more goal to qualify, which never came, thus AEK were among the 8 best teams of the tournament.
The draw sent yet again, AEK against another English club, Queens Park Rangers. In Loftus Road, the match quickly turned into a real nightmare for AEK, as the English entered aggressively and scored 2 goals from the penalty spot, while by the end of half time, made the final 3–0. The English considered that they had a secure score for the rematch and AEK was looking for a miracle. In Greece at a hot atmosphere made by the fans, AEK entered the game doing what they knew how to do best, to attack. The efforts bear fruit after a great offensive team performance managed to equalize the score of the first leg, which sent the match to extra time. At the end of the extra time, Fadrhonc, to everyone's surprise, subbed his goalkeeper, putting the "cold-blooded" and more experienced Christidis in the match knowing that he was a cerebral player who psychologized the opponent, while in training he had about 70% success rate in penalty saves. AEK won 7–6 in the penalty shoot-out with a block from Christidis at the final penalty that justified Fandronk and AEK were qualified to the semi-finals.
The draw put the Italian giants, Juventus on the path of AEK to the final of the UEFA Cup. The team of Giovanni Trapattoni had great players in their roster, such as Dino Zoff at the goalpost, Gaetano Scirea in defence, Marco Tardelli in midfield and Roberto Bettega in offense. In Turin AEK, without having anything to lose, played with confidence and despite the fact that were losing 1–0 in the 18th minute, stood against their opponent at even, managing to equalize at the 31st minute. In the second half, AEK were inattentive and the unforgiving Italians punished them with 3 goals that made the final 4–1. At the rematch, AEK played their attractive football, but did not succeed in a yet another miracle, as they lost by 0–1, ending their long European journey.
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 26 June 1977, 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 Giorgos Sidiropoulos GK 1973 Trikala ₯1,800,000 1981 Lakis Stergioudas GK 1972 Niki Poligyrou ₯36,000 1981 Defenders Giorgos Skrekis RB / CB 1974 Panionios ₯500,000 1982 Apostolos Toskas CB 1969 Trikala ₯1,500,000 1977 Lakis Nikolaou CB / RB / ST / RW 1971 Atromitos ₯600,000 1979 Babis Intzoglou RB / LB / CB 1976 Panionios ₯3,000,000 1984 Sakis Zarzopoulos CB / DM / RB / LB 1973 Panserraikos ₯2,500,000 1981 Stefanos Theodoridis RB / LB / CB / RM / LM 1969 AEK Athens U20 — 1977 Petros Ravousis CB / RB 1972 Aetos Skydra Free 1981 Midfielders 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 Fotis Outsikas LM / LB / LW 1975 AEK Athens U20 — 1983 Giorgos Vlantis CM / AM 1976 AEK Athens U20 — 1984 Forwards Mimis Papaioannou (Captain) SS / ST / AM / RW 1962 Veria ₯175,000 1980 Georgios Dedes ST / SS / RW / LW / RM / LM 1974 Panionios ₯1,000,000 1982 Walter Wagner ST / SS / RW / LW / RM 1974 Austria Wien Free 1977 Tasos Konstantinou RW / SS / ST / RM / AM 1972 EPA Larnaca ₯600,000 1980 Alekos Papadopoulos ST / SS 1976 Pakhtakor Tashkent Free 1984 Thomas Mavros ST / LW 1976 Panionios ₯10,000,000 1983 Left during season Timo Zahnleiter CM / DM / LB 1974 1860 München ₯1,200,000 1978 From Reserve Squad Andreas Xenos RB 1971 AEK Athens U20 — Michalis Michalas RW / RM 1974 AEK Athens U20 —
Transfers
In
PlayerFromFeeDateContract Until – Greek and Cypriot professional footballers were bound to their clubs for eight years, effectively functioning as eight-year contracts.Source Aris₯1,500,00030 June 1984 Panionios₯3,000,00030 June 1984 KastoriaLoan return Iraklis₯3,500,00030 June 1984 AEK Athens U20Promotion30 November 1984 Panionios₯10,000,00030 June 1983 Pakhtakor TashkentFree transfer30 June 1984
Notes
a. AEK paid Panionios the amount of ₯10,000,000 in an out-of-court settlement between the two clubs. Τhe amount of ₯1,500,000 were paid in cash and the remaining ₯8,500,000 in two-year bills. Since the deal of Mavros with AEK was originally signed in July 1975, the decision stated that his contract was effective from 1 September 1975, even though he wasn't officially a player of the club during that period.
Out
PlayerToFeeDateSource AtromitosContract termination Apollon AthensContract termination Apollon AthensContract termination PanserraikosEnd of contract Free agentContract termination Apollon AthensContract termination
Contract renewals
PlayerDateFormer Exp. DateNew Exp. DateSource 30 June 197630 June 1977 30 June 1976 30 June 197630 June 1977
Overall transfer activity
Expenditure: ₯18,000,000
Income: ₯0
Net Total: ₯18,000,000
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions
Overall record
Alpha Ethniki
League table
Results summary
Results by Matchday
Matches
Greek Cup
Matches
UEFA Cup
First round
Second round
Third round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
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;"| Left during season
! 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 CupUEFA CupTotal118 0 321212 1 316311 0 2134 9 1 2125 3 2 386 3 1 04 3 0 148 2 0 029 1 0 01 1 0 01 0 1 01Own goals 1 0 01Totals64 61484
Hat-tricks Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored. PlayerAgainst Result Date Competition Source Walter Wagner Ethnikos Piraeus 4–1 (H) 12 December 1976 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 CupUEFA CupTotal114 0 4182 0 0 00Totals14 0 418
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;"| Left during season