The 1968–69 season was the 45th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the tenth 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 18 September 1968 and finished on 15 June 1969.
Overview
The season found AEK in a transitional period with the changing of the manager, as the way of training the football players changed radically. The championship win in 1968 was accompanied by the departure of Jenő Csaknády and the arrival of an equally capable manager was deemed imperative. Thus, the Yugoslav manager Branko Stanković was hired, who had already presented achievements with Vojvodina and as a member of the coaching staff at Yugoslavia. The management of the team, due to a lack of sufficient money, did not proceed with big transfer moves. They acquired a couple of young footballers from smaller clubs, while also counted on players such Lavaridis, Stathopoulos, Simigdalas, Sevastopoulos, Ventouris, who were previously decommissioned. The preparation of the team under Stanković was based on the modern football of the period, which was characterized by tactics, technique and physical strength, while the discipline of the footballers was a prerequisite for their progress, as well as that of the team. However, due to the players had not yet adapted to the new way of working to fully respond, the several injuries that limited the options and the advanced age of some of them, affected the course of the team in the start the season.
For the first round of the European Cup AEK were lucky to be drawn against Jeunesse Esch from Luxembourg. At Nea Filadelfeia, the club prevailded harder than the final 3–0 implied. The qualification was at safety and the rematch became purely procedural. At Luxembourg, the suspense of qualification lasted for 16 minutes when AEK equalized the quick goal of Jeunesse Eschs. AEK also managed to take the lead with a second goal by Ventouris, but the players of Legrand showing character evenatully turned the match again taking the victory. In the second round AEK faced the Danish Akademisk Boldklub. At AEK Stadium, despite their offensive style of play, AEK played defensively for the whole match and managed to take the draw by 0–0. At the rematch in the frozen Copenhagen, AEK started the match very offensively and managed to take the lead early on with Stamatiadis. The Danes started to press unbearably to equalize, but thanks to Konstantinidis and Vasiliou, AEK went for the half time break with their lead intact. In the second half the yellow-blacks took advantage of the open spaces left by the Danes and played to extend their lead. Αt the 81st minute, after a cross by Sevastopoulos and Papaioannou with his unnatural jump, beat everyone in the air and made the final 0–2. AEK achieved the very first display of a Greek team in Europe, as they became the first team to achieve an away victory in a European match and the first Greek team to reach the quarter-finals of the European Cup, or in any European competition at all. In the quarter-finals AEK avoided all the giants of the draw as they faced the Czechoslovak Spartak Trnava. At the first match at Spartak Stadium The yellow-blacks played in order to maintain a favourable score for the rematch and after they withstood the pressure of the Czechoslovaks despite conceding two goals, they managed to reduce their lead with Sevastopoulos, achieving their target. The rematch in Athens, AEK seemed ready to respond to their challenge and take the qualification, but unfortunately, a quick goal by the Czechoslovaks forced the yellow-blacks to chase the score, as Spartak closed all spaces behind. AEK attacked with everything they got, but the Czechoslovak defense seemed impenetrable. Nonetheless, at the 77th minute AEK managed to equalize with Papaioannou and had only 13 minute to take the match to the extra time. Even though the team pressed intensively for another goal the ball would not go in the net and AEK left the tournament with pride, as they made one of their greatest ever achievements reality.
In the Cup, AEK easily eliminated Lamia, at the round of 32 with 5–0 at home. However, at the round of 16 they faced Panachaiki and were eliminated with a 4–2 away defeat.
AEK started the Championship in bad manner, but afterwards, they continued with five consecutive victories. One of these was an emphatic 3–2 away win against Olympiacos with Papaioannou playing as goalkeeper from the 85th minute, due to the suspension of Serafidis and even making two saves that secured the victory. AEK were consistently close in claiming the title, until they were defeated at home 0–1 by Olympiacos at the 22nd matchday. The end of the championship found AEK in the 6th place with 74 points and a long distance from the champion Panathinaikos with 90 points. As a result, they didn't qualify in any European competition for the next season. At the end of the season, Stanković planned a big renewal of the team's roster in order to improve their weaknesses and make their comeback in claiming titles.
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 15 June 1969, 23:59 UTC+2.
PlayerNat.Position(s)Date of birth (Age)SignedPrevious clubTransfer feeContract until Goalkeepers Stelios Serafidis GK 1953 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Theodoros Maniateas GK 1964 Panthisiakos Free 1976 Stelios Konstantinidis GK 1967 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Giannis Kokkinos GK 1969 AEK Athens U20 — 1977 Defenders Alekos Sofianidis LB / LM / LW 1959 Beşiktaş Free 1976 Aleko Yordan CB / RB 1964 Beykoz Free 1976 Tasos Vasiliou CB 1965 Apollon Athens ₯1,200,000 1976 Giorgos Kefalidis RB / CB 1964 Pierikos ₯800,000 1976 Fotis Balopoulos CB / DM / CM / ST 1964 Proodeftiki ₯450,000 1976 Lakis Frogoudakis LB / RB / CB / DM 1964 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Giannis Spyropoulos CB / RB 1968 PAO Patisia Free 1976 Christos Antonopoulos CB / DM 1968 AE Pangrati ₯120,000 1976 Giannis Stavrou RB / LB / CB 1967 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Nikos Karapoulitidis LB / RB / CB 1968 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Midfielders Stelios Skevofilakas LM / RM / AM / CM 1961 Eleftheroupoli Free 1976 Panagiotis Ventouris LM / RM / LW / RW / ST / AM / SS 1965 Fostiras ₯400,000 1976 Nikos Stathopoulos LM / LB / CM 1965 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Michalis Simigdalas CM / RM / LM / RB / LB 1963 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Minas Stavridis AM / SS / ST 1968 Ionikos ₯200,000 1976 Giorgos Karafeskos CM / DM / RM / RW 1964 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Giorgos Lavaridis CM / DM / CB 1968 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Forwards Andreas Stamatiadis (Captain) RW / LW / SS / ST 1952 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Kostas Papageorgiou ST 1963 Atromitos ₯200,000 1976 Mimis Papaioannou SS / ST / AM / RW 1962 Veria ₯175,000 1976 Spyros Pomonis LW / LM 1960 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Nikos Exarchidis ST 1966 Niki Plaka Free 1976 Kostas Nikolaidis RW / LW / SS / ST 1965 PAO Safraboli Free 1976 Kosmas Pesiridis RW / LW 1968 AON Argyroupoli ₯250,000 1976 Dimitris Kyrmizas ST 1967 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Andreas Karakidis ST 1968 AEK Athens U20 — 1976 Left during season Nikos Sevastopoulos RW / SS / AM / ST 1963 AEK Athens U20 — 1976
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 1977 PAO PatisiaFree transfer30 June 1976 AE Pangrati₯120,00030 June 1976 AEK Athens U20Promotion30 June 1976 AEK Athens U20Promotion30 June 1976 Ionikos₯200,00030 June 1976 AON Argyroupoli₯250,00030 June 1976 HellenicLoan return30 June 1976 AEK Athens U20Promotion30 June 1976
a. plus Maskaleris, Petrou and Ioannidis from the reserve team as exchange, while AEK also signed Ioannis Papakonstantis for their reserve team.
b. plus Tochoumidis from the reserve team as exchange.
Out
PlayerToFeeDateSource Retired
Loan out
PlayerToFeeDateUntilOption to buySource HellenicFree14 September 1969
Overall transfer activity
Expenditure: ₯570,000
Income: ₯0
Net Total: ₯570,000
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions
Overall record
Alpha Ethniki
League table
Results summary
Results by Matchday
Matches
Greek Cup
AEK entered the Greek Cup at the round of 32.
Matches
European Cup
First round
Second round
Quarter-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
Goalscorers
The list is sorted by competition order when total goals are equal, then by position and then alphabetically by surname. RankPlayerAlpha EthnikiGreek CupEuropean CupTotal120 4 327210 0 0103 4 2 284 5 0 165 4 1 05 4 0 157 4 0 048 2 0 13 2 0 1310 1 0 01 1 0 01 1 0 01Own goals 0 0 00Totals58 7 974
Hat-tricks Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored. PlayerAgainst Result Date Competition Source Mimis Papaioannou Chalkida 5–2 (H) 3 November 1968 Alpha Ethniki Mimis Papaioannou Lamia 5–0 (H) 14 May 1969 Greek Cup
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 CupTotal110 1 2132 0 0 113 0 0 00Totals10 1 314
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
Starting 11 This section presents the most frequently used formation along with the players with the most starts across all competitions.
Formation Matchday(s)424–2–41–34
Player Stelios KonstantinidisGKTasos VasiliouRCBFotis BalopoulosLCBGiorgos KefalidisRBNikos StathopoulosLBGiorgos KarafeskosRCMStelios SkevofilakasLCMAndreas Stamatiadis (C)RWPanagiotis VentourisLWMimis PapaioannouRCFKostas NikolaidisLCF
References
External links AEK Athens F.C. Official Website A.E.K. FC Database