AEK Athens

1977–78 season
Chairman	Loukas Barlos
Manager	František Fadrhonc (until 23 September) Andreas Stamatiadis (until 10 October) Zlatko Čajkovski
Stadium	AEK Stadium
Alpha Ethniki	1st
Greek Cup	Winners
UEFA Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Thomas Mavros (22) All: Thomas Mavros (31)
Highest home attendance	30,000 vs Olympiacos (17 May 1978)
Lowest home attendance	5,482 vs Ethnikos Piraeus (26 December 1977)
Average home league attendance	16,591
Biggest win	Ethnikos Piraeus 1–6 AEK Athens AEK Athens 6–1 AO Chania AEK Athens 6–1 Olympiacos
Biggest defeat	Standard Liège 4–1 AEK Athens
Home colours

The 1977–78 season was the 54th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 19th 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 11 September 1977 and finished on 4 June 1978.

Overview

AEK started the season "boosted" from last season's course to the UEFA Cup semi-finals, as well as the quality they presented in their games, showed the unquenchable willingness of the club of Loukas Barlos to constantly look for more. The staffing of the team continued at a steady pace. The full-back of Egaleo, Aris Damianidis, the Uruguayan midfielder Milton Viera from Olympiacos, the top scorer of last season second division with AEL, Giannis Mousouris, who was converted into a right-back and most importantly the Yugoslav international striker, Dušan Bajević from Velež Mostar, filled any gaps in the club's roster.

At the beginning of the season, the first rifts appreared over the relations of Barlos and František Fadrhonc. The philosophical differences between the two men regarding the future course of the team were presented, as Barlos wanted the staffing of AEK with big names, who would launch them to the top, while the "grandfather" seemed to prefer the gradual staffing of the team through their academies, which he had under his supervision and had upgraded to a fairly high level.

The price of their difference of philosophy resulted in the removal of Fadrhonc after the away defeat against Olympiacos at the 2nd matchday. The Czech's assistant Andreas Stamatiadis sat on the team's bench for the next two games as an interim coach and from there Zlatko Čajkovski took over the fate of AEK. The so-called "Čik" as an ardent supporter of attacking and spectacular football, continued Fadrhonc's work handling the club's roster perfectly.

In the UEFA Cup, AEK faced the Romanian ASA Târgu Mureș, for the first round. In Romania, AEK presented a mediocre appearance, which was largely due to the tragic condition of the field. It rained torrentially at the city for two consecutive days before the match, resulting in a mud-flooded pitch. The Romanians, took advantage of AEK's inability to develop their technical virtues on the field and not only did they defend effectively, but also won by 1–0. In the replay match, AEK were imposing and the score stopped at 3–0, while they lost many opportunities for more throughout the second half. The draw brought AEK at the second round opponents with the Belgian Standard Liège, which proved to be a difficult opponent and managed to leave the AEK stadium with a draw. The replay match found AEK unlucky, as they were left behind 1–0 by an own goal. The yellow and blacks managed to recover from the shock and they will equalized in 1–1, but in the last half hour of the match found AEK exhausted and Standard Liège with everything on their side, including necessary luck, they scored 3 goals.

At the 15th matchday, the games took place the day after Christmas and the footballers' union proceeded to the first mobilization of the industry, claiming a strike for the specific matchday, which resulted the clubs lining up with players from the amateur divisions and only foreign professionals.^[1] After the passing of the first months and the recovery of the injured Bajević, AEK looked like a goal machine.

They achieved a total of 74 goals having the best attack of the league, which they won with a difference of 7 points from the second PAOK. It was characteristic that after the defeat in the 2nd match that brought about the removal of Fadrhonc, AEK were defeated only once. Thomas Mavros was the league's top scorer with 22 goals, while in fourth place was Takis Nikoloudis with 15.

AEK's superiority and the big difference of points which they won the league was also confirmed in the Greek Cup. Čajkovski's team seemed unstoppable as they eliminated AO Chania at home in the first round, Panathinaikos away in the second round and Panionios at home in the round of 16. In the quarter-finals, AEK defeated Panelefsiniakos away and advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced Olympiacos in Nea Filadelfeia. The "mistake" of Olympiacos to precede at the beginning of the match, made AEK "furious" and retaliated with 6 goals. AEK confirming their characterization as "unstoppable", defeated PAOK 2–0 in the final and won the Greek Cup, as well as the Double for the second time in their history after 39 years. Dušan Bajević emergerd as the top scorer in the tournament with 9 goals.^[2]

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 4 June 1978, 23:59 UTC+3.

Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Nikos Christidis		GK	(1944-08-02)2 August 1944 (aged 33)	1976	Aris	Free	1982
Lakis Stergioudas		GK	(1952-12-11)11 December 1952 (aged 25)	1972	Niki Poligyrou	Free	1984
Defenders
Apostolos Toskas		CB	(1947-12-28)28 December 1947 (aged 30)	1969	Trikala	Free	1979
Lakis Nikolaou (Vice-captain)		CB / RB / ST / DM	(1949-07-17)17 July 1949 (aged 28)	1971	Atromitos	₯600,000	1979
Babis Intzoglou		RB / LB / CB	(1949-04-01)1 April 1949 (aged 29)	1976	Panionios	Free	1980
Stefanos Theodoridis		CB / RB	(1950-06-19)19 June 1950 (aged 28)	1969	AEK Athens U20	—	1978
Giannis Mousouris		RB / RM / ST	(1951-01-26)26 January 1951 (aged 27)	1977	AEL	₯3,000,000	1982
Petros Ravousis		CB / RB	(1954-10-01)1 October 1954 (aged 23)	1972	Aetos Skydra	Free	1984
Aris Damianidis		CB / RB	(1955-03-02)2 March 1955 (aged 23)	1977	Egaleo	Free	1980
Midfielders
Milton Viera		CM / DM	(1946-05-11)11 May 1946 (aged 32)	1977	Olympiacos	Free	1980
Lazaros Papadopoulos		RM / RW	(1950-01-03)3 January 1950 (aged 28)	1973	Veria	Free	1979
Dionysis Tsamis		CM / DM / AM	(1951-05-21)21 May 1951 (aged 27)	1972	Panetolikos	₯2,300,000	1980
Takis Nikoloudis		CM / AM / RM / LM	(1951-08-26)26 August 1951 (aged 26)	1977	Iraklis	Free	1981
Christos Ardizoglou		RM / LM / RW / AM	(1953-03-25)25 March 1953 (aged 25)	1974	Apollon Athens	₯5,000,000	1986
Fotis Outsikas		LM / LB / LW	(1957-05-26)26 May 1957 (aged 21)	1975	AEK Athens U20	—	1980
Giorgos Vlachonikolis		AM / SS	1958 (aged 19–20)	1977	Ilisiakos	Free	1978
Forwards
Mimis Papaioannou (Captain)		SS / ST / AM	(1942-08-23)23 August 1942 (aged 35)	1962	Veria	₯175,000	1979
Dušan Bajević		ST / SS	(1948-12-10)10 December 1948 (aged 29)	1977	Velež Mostar	Free	1981
Tasos Konstantinou		RW / SS / ST / RM / AM	(1951-03-11)11 March 1951 (aged 27)	1972	EPA Larnaca	Free	1980
Thomas Mavros		ST / SS	(1954-05-31)31 May 1954 (aged 24)	1976	Panionios	Free	1984
Giorgos Vlantis		ST	(1958-01-30)30 January 1958 (aged 20)	1976	AEK Athens U20	—	1983
Left during season
Giorgos Sidiropoulos		GK	(1949-06-25)25 June 1949 (aged 29)	1973	AO Trikala	Free	1978
From Reserve Squad
Spyros Ikonomopoulos		GK	(1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 18)	—	AO Akratas	—
Panagiotis Stylianopoulos		RB / LB	(1957-09-04)4 September 1957 (aged 20)	—	AEK Athens U20	—
Theodoros Apostolopoulos		CB	1959 (aged 18–19)	—	Chaidari	—
Kottidis		CB	1959 (aged 18–19)	—	AEK Athens U20	—
Saxanidis		CB	1959 (aged 18–19)	—	AEK Athens U20	—
Takis Papatheodorou		CB	1959 (aged 18–19)	—	AEK Athens U20	—
Christos Kalaitzidis		LM	(1959-02-06)6 February 1959 (aged 19)	—	PO.K.E.	—
Stefanos Kallinteroglou		ST	1954 (aged 23–24)	—	AEK Athens U20	—
Thomas Stafylas		ST	(1958-04-04)4 April 1958 (aged 20)	—	AEK Athens U20	—
Giannis Outsikas		ST	1959 (aged 18–19)	—	AEK Athens U20	—
Stefanos Zografos		ST	1959 (aged 18–19)	—	AEK Athens U20	—
Tasos Boulmentis		ST	1959 (aged 18–19)	—	AEK Athens U20	—

Transfers

In

Pos.	Player	From	Type	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
DF	Aris Damianidis	Egaleo	Transfer	Free	1 July 1977	30 June 1980
DF	Giannis Mousouris	AEL	Transfer	₯3,000,000	26 July 1977	30 June 1982	[3]
ΜF	Milton Viera	Olympiacos	Transfer	Free	1 July 1977	30 June 1980
MF	Giorgos Vlachonikolis	Ilisiakos	Transfer	Free	1 July 1977	30 June 1978
FW	Dušan Bajević	Velež Mostar	Transfer	Free	1 July 1977	30 June 1981

Out

Pos.	Player	To	Type	Fee	Date	Source
GK	Giorgos Sidiropoulos	AEL	Contract termination	—	1 January 1978
DF	Sakis Zarzopoulos	OFI	End of contract	—	1 July 1977
DF	Michalis Michalas	Free agent	End of contract	—	1 July 1977
DF	Giorgos Skrekis	Panionios	End of contract	—	1 July 1977
MF	Timo Zahnleiter	VfR Bürstadt	End of contract	—	1 July 1977
FW	Georgios Dedes	Panionios	End of contract	—	1 July 1977
FW	Walter Wagner	Aris	End of contract	—	1 July 1977
FW	Alekos Papadopulos	OFI	End of contract	—	1 July 1977
FW	Andreas Xenos	Free agent	End of contract	—	1 July 1977

Pre-season and friendlies

QPR v AEK Athens

5 August 1977 Friendly	QPR	1–3	AEK Athens
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)

Club Brugge v AEK Athens

7 August 1977 Friendly	Club Brugge	2–2	AEK Athens

AEK Athens v Slovan Bratislava

10 August 1977 Friendly	AEK Athens	4–0	Slovan Bratislava	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v Sportul Studențesc

17 August 1977 Friendly	AEK Athens	4–0	Sportul Studențesc	Nea Filadelfeia
19:30 EEST (UTC+3)				Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 17,423

Olympiacos v AEK Athens

21 August 1977 Friendly	Olympiacos	1–2	AEK Athens	Piraeus
	Galakos 36'		Nikoloudis 60' Mavros 66'	Stadium: Karaiskakis Stadium

AEK Athens v Stal Mielec

24 August 1977 Friendly	AEK Athens	1–0	Stal Mielec	Nea Filadelfeia
		Report		Stadium: AEK Stadium

PAOK v AEK Athens

28 August 1977 Friendly	PAOK	0–0	AEK Athens	Thessaloniki
				Stadium: Toumba Stadium Referee: Nikos Zlatanos (Thessaloniki)

AEK Athens v Sparta Rotterdam

31 August 1977 Friendly	AEK Athens	4–0	Sparta Rotterdam	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: AEK Stadium

Chalkida v AEK Athens

4 September 1977 Friendly	Chalkida	1–0	AEK Athens	Chalcis
				Stadium: Municipal Stadium of Chalkida

AEK Athens v Ethnikos Piraeus

5 September 1977 Friendly	AEK Athens	5–1	Ethnikos Piraeus	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v Saudi Arabia U20

29 November 1977 Friendly	AEK Athens	7–0	Saudi Arabia U20	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: Nikos Goumas Stadium

AEK Athens v Olympiacos

28 December 1977 Friendly	AEK Athens	2–1	Olympiacos	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: AEK Stadium

Ethnikos Asteras v AEK Athens

29 March 1978 Friendly	Ethnikos Asteras	1–0	AEK Athens	Kaisariani
				Stadium: Kaisariani Stadium

AEK Athens v AE Kesarianis

12 April 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	5–1	AE Kesarianis	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: AEK Stadium

Kickers Offenbach v AEK Athens

1 May 1978 Friendly	Kickers Offenbach	2–2	AEK Athens	Offenbach
			Mavros	Stadium: Bieberer Berg

1. FC Herzogenaurach v AEK Athens

4 May 1978 Friendly	1. FC Herzogenaurach	3–7	AEK Athens	Nuremberg
19:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Penen King Nurber		Nikoloudis 12', 57' Mousouris 25' Bajević 42' Nikolaou 72' Katsaros 76' Mavros 80'	Stadium: Rudolf-Dassler-Sportfeld Attendance: 2,500

AEK Athens v Alexandria all stars

10 May 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	3–1	Alexandria all stars	Nea Filadelfeia
17:00 EEST (UTC+3)				Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v QPR

21 May 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	2–0	QPR	Nea Filadelfeia
	Konstantinou 62' (pen.) Bajević 69'	Report		Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v PSAT all stars

24 May 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	2–3	PSAT all stars	Nea Filadelfeia
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)				Stadium: AEK Stadium

Competitions

UEFA Cup

Main article: 1977–78 UEFA Cup

First round

ASA Târgu Mureș v AEK Athens

14 September 1977 First leg	ASA Târgu Mureș	1–0	AEK Athens	Târgu Mureș, Romania
16:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Fănici 81'	Report		Stadium: Stadionul 23 August Attendance: 14,000 Referee: Mitko Chukov (Bulgaria)

AEK Athens v ASA Târgu Mureș

28 September 1977 Second leg	AEK Athens	3–0 (3–1 agg.)	ASA Târgu Mureș	Athens, Greece
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Papaioannou 24' Viera 35' Mousouris 44'	Report		Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 14,730 Referee: Tome Manojlovski (Yugoslavia)

Second round

AEK Athens v Standard Liège

19 October 1977 First leg	AEK Athens	2–2	Standard Liège	Athens, Greece
18:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Mavros 57' Nikoloudis 83'	Report	Sigurvinsson 14' Poel 42'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 20,458 Referee: Ken Burns (England)

Standard Liège v AEK Athens

2 November 1977 Second leg	Standard Liège	4–1 (6–3 agg.)	AEK Athens	Liège, Belgium
20:00 EET (UTC+2)	Nikoloudis 41' (o.g.) Riedl 64' Nickel 69' Gorez 85'	Report	Ardizoglou 63'	Stadium: Stade Maurice Dufrasne Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Walter Hungerbühler (Switzerland)
Note: The official report states that Standard Liège's first goal at the 41st minute was scored by Labarbe, but in the highlights of the game it appears clearly that it was an own goal by Nikoloudis.[5]

Statistics

Squad statistics

As of 4 June 1978

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		UEFA Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Nikos Christidis	19	0	5	0	0	0	24	0
—	GK	Lakis Stergioudas	14	0	0	0	4	0	18	0
Defenders
—	DF	Apostolos Toskas	13	0	3	0	0	0	16	0
—	DF	Lakis Nikolaou	31	2	5	0	4	0	40	2
—	DF	Babis Intzoglou	25	1	5	0	3	0	33	1
—	DF	Stefanos Theodoridis	10	0	2	0	4	0	16	0
—	DF	Giannis Mousouris	31	8	6	0	4	1	41	9
—	DF	Petros Ravousis	30	0	6	0	4	0	40	0
—	DF	Aris Damianidis	14	0	3	0	2	0	19	0
Midfielders
—	MF	Milton Viera	25	0	4	1	4	1	33	2
—	MF	Lazaros Papadopoulos	5	0	3	0	0	0	8	0
—	MF	Dionysis Tsamis	26	1	4	0	2	0	32	1
—	MF	Takis Nikoloudis	32	15	6	1	4	1	42	17
—	MF	Christos Ardizoglou	17	4	3	0	3	1	23	5
—	MF	Fotis Outsikas	8	0	1	0	2	0	11	0
—	MF	Giorgos Vlachonikolis	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Forwards
—	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	31	7	5	1	3	1	39	9
—	FW	Dušan Bajević	19	4	5	9	0	0	24	13
—	FW	Tasos Konstantinou	25	9	5	1	2	0	32	10
—	FW	Thomas Mavros	33	22	5	8	4	1	42	31
—	FW	Giorgos Vlantis	2	0	1	1	0	0	3	1
Left during season
—	GK	Giorgos Sidiropoulos	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
From Reserve Squad
—	GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	DF	Panagiotis Stylianopoulos	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	DF	Theodoros Apostolopoulos	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
—	DF	Kottidis	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	DF	Saxanidis	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	DF	Takis Papatheodorou	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	MF	Christos Kalaitzidis	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	FW	Stefanos Kallinteroglou	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	FW	Thomas Stafylas	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	FW	Giannis Outsikas	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	FW	Stefanos Zografos	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	FW	Tasos Boulmentis	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1

Goalscorers

As of 4 June 1978

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	UEFA Cup	Total
1	FW	Thomas Mavros	22	8	1	31
2	MF	Takis Nikoloudis	15	1	1	17
3	FW	Dušan Bajević	4	9	0	13
4	FW	Tasos Konstantinou	9	1	0	10
5	DF	Giannis Mousouris	8	0	1	9
	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	7	1	1	9
7	MF	Christos Ardizoglou	4	0	1	5
8	DF	Lakis Nikolaou	2	0	0	2
	MF	Milton Viera	0	1	1	2
10	DF	Babis Intzoglou	1	0	0	1
	MF	Dionysis Tsamis	1	0	0	1
	FW	Tasos Boulmentis	1	0	0	1
	FW	Giorgos Vlantis	0	1	0	1
Own goals			0	0	0	0
Totals			74	22	6	102

Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition	Source
Thomas Mavros	Panachaiki	4–0 (H)	4 December 1977	Alpha Ethniki
Dušan Bajević4	AO Chania	6–1 (A)	21 December 1977	Greek Cup
Takis Nikoloudis	Egaleo	4–2 (Α)	26 February 1978	Alpha Ethniki	[6]
Thomas Mavros	Olympiacos	6–1 (H)	17 May 1978	Greek Cup	[7]

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.

As of 4 June 1978

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	UEFA Cup	Total
1	Nikos Christidis	10	3	0	13
2	Lakis Stergioudas	5	0	1	6
3	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	0	0	0	0
	Giorgos Sidiropoulos	0	0	0	0
Totals		15	3	1	19

Disciplinary record

As of 4 June 1978

N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup			UEFA Cup			Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Nikos Christidis
—	GK		Lakis Stergioudas
Defenders
—	DF		Apostolos Toskas
—	DF		Lakis Nikolaou	1			1						2
—	DF		Babis Intzoglou	4			1			2			7
—	DF		Stefanos Theodoridis	1									1
—	DF		Giannis Mousouris
—	DF		Petros Ravousis	3						1			4
—	DF		Aris Damianidis
Midfielders
—	MF		Milton Viera	3			2			2			7
—	MF		Lazaros Papadopoulos
—	MF		Dionysis Tsamis
—	MF		Takis Nikoloudis	1									1
—	MF		Christos Ardizoglou							1			1
—	MF		Fotis Outsikas	3									3
—	MF		Giorgos Vlachonikolis
Forwards
—	FW		Mimis Papaioannou
—	FW		Dušan Bajević	1		1							1		1
—	FW		Tasos Konstantinou	2			1						3
—	FW		Thomas Mavros	1			1			1			3
—	FW		Giorgos Vlantis
Left during season
—	GK		Giorgos Sidiropoulos
From Reserve Squad
—	GK		Spyros Ikonomopoulos
—	DF		Panagiotis Stylianopoulos
—	DF		Theodoros Apostolopoulos
—	DF		Kottidis
—	DF		Saxanidis
—	DF		Takis Papatheodorou
—	MF		Christos Kalaitzidis
—	FW		Stefanos Kallinteroglou
—	FW		Thomas Stafylas
—	FW		Giannis Outsikas
—	FW		Stefanos Zografos
—	FW		Tasos Boulmentis

Awards

Player	Pos.	Award	Source
Thomas Mavros	FW	Alpha Ethniki Top Scorer
Dušan Bajević	FW	Greek Cup Top Scorer

References

External links

• AEK Athens F.C. Official Website