1988–89 AEK Athens F.C. season

AEK Athens

1988–89 season
Chairman	Stratos Gidopoulos
Manager	Dušan Bajević
Stadium	AEK Stadium
Alpha Ethniki	1st
Greek Cup	Round of 32
UEFA Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Miroslaw Okonski (11) All: Miroslaw Okonski (11)
Highest home attendance	28,399 (vs Panathinaikos)
Lowest home attendance	4,053* (vs Olympiacos) *The match was held at Diagoras Stadium.
Average home league attendance	15,676
Biggest win	AEK Athens 5–1 Levadiakos
Biggest defeat	Levadiakos 3–1 AEK Athens Athletic Bilbao 2–0 AEK Athens
Home colours Away colours
← 1987–88 1989–90 →

The 1988–89 season was the 65th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 30th 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 21 August 1988 and finished on 21 May 1989.

Kits

Supplier: Zita Hellas
Sponsor(s): Ethniki Asfalistiki

Home

Away

Overview

One of the most important seasons in the history of AEK, with the team finally managing to win the championship after 10 rough years. In the summer of 1988, an important administrative change came to the team, since the major shareholder, Andreas Zafiropoulos stepped down, with the overwhelming majority of the fans against him and handed over the management of club to the nightclub owner, Stratos Gidopoulos. Dušan Bajević, now a manager, returned after years at AEK, where he was loved in the past as a footballer. Bajević, supported by the management and the people of the club, very quickly built a tight and well-worked team, which had the best defense in the league and knew how to get the results in most matches. Gidopoulos, for his part, in addition to the very successful transfers he achieved, brought for the first time after years a wind of optimism, as he knew how to cheer up the team and the crowd with his statements and in general he proved to be a very capable agent who had the means to the players and the people of AEK not to feel at a disadvantage against their much stronger financial rivals. That finally turned out to be a dream season, although few expected that to happen, since the team had to face much stronger financial rivals in the league. The big transfer of the Polish star, Mirosław Okoński took place, Stelios Manolas was convinced to stay, while in December, Stavros Stamatis and Toni Savevski also arrived, but AEK still seemed to be an outsider for winning the league.

The team played in the UEFA Cup, where they played against Athletic Bilbao in the first round. In the first leg in a full AEK Stadium, despite the pouring rain, AEK pressed from the start and managed to take an early lead with a very impressive header from Pittas. The game was very intense and particularly hard. The Basques pushed for an equalizer, but AEK also had chances to extend the score. In the end, the fluid 1–0 remained and the rematch was set for 14 days later in the Basque Country. In the second leg, in the packed San Mamès, AEK were stunned and concieded 2 quick goals by Uralde. By the 6th minute, Athletic had already a qualification score and the remaining 84 minutes went by with AEK looking for the goal. In the end, the "golden" goal never came, despite some tepid chances. A highlight of the match at San Mamès, the human wall erected by the Basque fans to protect those of AEK from the Spanish police, an unforgettable move that was duly appreciated by the Greek excursionists.^[1]

In the Cup, AEK did not do well, after being eliminated in the second round by Levadiakos, with the yellow-blacks having major complaints from the referee in the second leg, with Gidopoulos as their main expressor.^[2]

Clearly the most important moment of the year was the away match against Olympiacos on 7 May, for the penultimate matchday of the championship. A match which many considered the red and whites to be a sure winner and did not give AEK any chance, even though the draw was also in their favor. The atmosphere at the period of the preparation of the two teams before this match was heated, as the players of Olympiacos cut a celebratory cake with the inscription "Olympiacos-AEK 4–0" at the "tower" of their president Argyris Saliarelis in Aegina, while at the same time the AEK were working hard, doing a mini-preparation at Parnitha.^[3]

At the Olympic Stadium the match started with Olympiacos pressing hard, but the defense and Ikonomopoulos held very well at the back. The pressure of the red and whites kept increasing but AEK did not concede a goal. The save by Manolas on the goaline with an amazing header after a header by Détári,^[4] and in general the spirited play of the whole team kept them intact during the match. At the 83rd minute, in a counterattack Karagiozopoulos, who had come on as a substitute, after an unrepeatable "1-2" with Okonski, scored the amazing "golden" goal which gave AEK the historic title victory.^[5]

The star of the team were Mirosław Okoński, Stelios Manolas, Giorgos Savvidis, Toni Savevski and Spyros Ikonomopoulos, who had an incredible performance, giving valuable points to the team with 3 crucial penalty kicks saves during the season and was given the nickname "Mr. Championship 1989" by the fans.^[6] The team's top scorer in the league is Miroslaw Okonski with 11 goals.^[7]

Management team

Position	Staff
Manager	Dušan Bajević
Assistant manager	Petros Ravousis
Goalkeeping coach	Stelios Serafidis
Head of Medical	Lakis Nikolaou

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 21 May 1989, 23:59 UTC+3.

Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Antonis Minou		GK	(1958-05-04)4 May 1958 (aged 31)	1988	Panathinaikos	₯50,000,000	1991
Spyros Ikonomopoulos (Vice-captain)		GK	(1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 29)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1993
Fanis Kofinas		GK	(1960-09-05)5 September 1960 (aged 28)	1982	Pelopas Kiato	Free	1992
Defenders
Makis Chatzis		RB / LB	(1957-03-30)30 March 1957 (aged 32)	1984	Apollon Athens	Free	1992
Takis Karagiozopoulos		CB / DM / ST	(1961-02-04)4 February 1961 (aged 28)	1981	Veria	Free	1993
Stelios Manolas		CB / RB	(1961-07-13)13 July 1961 (aged 27)	1979	AEK Athens U20	—	1993
Giorgos Peppes		CB	(1961-10-26)26 October 1961 (aged 27)	1986	Ethnikos Piraeus	Free	1992
Christos Vasilopoulos		RB / LB	(1962-11-12)12 November 1962 (aged 26)	1987	Panachaiki	Free	1993
Georgios Koutoulas		CB / LB	(1967-02-09)9 February 1967 (aged 22)	1987	AEK Athens U20	—	1999
Dimitris Volonakis		LB / CB	(1967-02-27)27 February 1967 (aged 22)	1987	AEK Athens U20	—	1990
Michalis Karousis		CB	1968 (aged 20–21)	1988	AEK Athens U20	—	1989
Midfielders
Dimitris Pittas		AM / CM	(1958-04-08)8 April 1958 (aged 31)	1986	PAOK	Free	1989
Mirosław Okoński		AM / ST / SS	(1958-12-08)8 December 1958 (aged 30)	1988	Hamburger SV	₯220,000,000	1991
Pavlos Papaioannou		DM / RB / RM	(1959-05-19)19 May 1959 (aged 30)	1983	Rodos	₯10,000,000	1993
Giorgos Savvidis (Captain)		AM / RM / RW / SS / ST	(1961-02-08)8 February 1961 (aged 28)	1987	Omonia	₯40,000,000	1990
Lampros Georgiadis		AM / LM / LB	(1963-07-11)11 July 1963 (aged 25)	1986	Anagennisi Arta	₯12,000,000	1993
Toni Savevski		CM / LM / DM	(1963-07-14)14 July 1963 (aged 25)	1988	Vardar	Free	1993
Jim Patikas		RM / LM / RW / LW / SS	(1963-10-18)18 October 1963 (aged 25)	1985	Sydney Croatia	Free	1993
Stavros Stamatis		DM / CM / CB / RB / LB / AM	(1966-01-31)31 January 1966 (aged 23)	1988	Charavgiakos	Free	1995
Giorgos Famelis		CM	(1967-08-19)19 August 1967 (aged 21)	1988	AO Vouliagmenis	Free	1991
Charalampos Zarotiadis		CM / AM / SS	(1968-04-28)28 April 1968 (aged 21)	1988	AEK Athens U20	—	1989
Michalis Magginas		CM	(1969-04-13)13 April 1969 (aged 20)	1988	Free agent	Free	1989
Giorgos Papakostoulis		CM	(1971-10-02)2 October 1971 (aged 17)	1988	Atromitos Agioi Anargyroi	Free	1991
Forwards
Giannis Dintsikos		ST / SS / RW / LW / AM	(1960-06-25)25 June 1960 (aged 29)	1981	Kastoria	Free	1989
Dimosthenis Batalis		ST	(1964-06-20)20 June 1964 (aged 25)	1988	Sydney Olympic	Free	1990
Frank Klopas		SS / ST / AM	(1966-09-01)1 September 1966 (aged 22)	1988	Chicago Sting	Free	1994
Georgios Christodoulou		ST / SS / LW	(1967-05-20)20 May 1967 (aged 22)	1985	Akratitos	Free	1991
Left during Winter Transfer Window
Polyvios Chatzopoulos		CB / DM	(1961-07-17)17 July 1961 (aged 27)	1985	Panionios	Free	1989
Sotiris Mavrodimos		CB / RB / LB / DM	(1962-07-18)18 July 1962 (aged 26)	1986	Kozani	Free	1989
Henrik Nielsen		ST / SS	(1965-03-29)29 March 1965 (aged 24)	1987	B93	Free	1990
Giannakis Ioannou		ST	(1966-08-29)29 August 1966 (aged 22)	1988	New York Pancyprian	Free	1989

Transfers

In

Summer

Pos.	Player	From	Type	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
GK	Antonis Minou	Panathinaikos	Transfer	₯50,000,000	13 July 1988	30 June 1991	[8]
DF	Michalis Karousis	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	—	1 July 1988	30 June 1989
MF	Charalampos Zarotiadis	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	—	1 July 1988	30 June 1989
MF	Giorgos Famelis	AO Vouliagmenis	Transfer	Free	1 July 1988	30 June 1991
MF	Michalis Magginas	Free agent	Transfer	Free	1 July 1988	30 June 1989
MF	Giorgos Papakostoulis	Atromitos Agioi Anargyroi	Transfer	Free	1 July 1988	30 June 1991
MF	Mirosław Okoński	Hamburger SV	Transfer	₯220,000,000	4 July 1988	30 June 1991	[9]
FW	Frank Klopas	Chicago Sting	Transfer	Free	1 July 1988	30 June 1994
FW	Georgios Christodoulou	Acharnaikos	End of loan	—	1 July 1988	30 June 1991
FW	Giannakis Ioannou	New York Pancyprian	Transfer	Free	1 July 1988	30 June 1989
FW	Dimosthenis Batalis	Sydney Olympic	Transfer	Free	1 July 1988	30 June 1990

Winter

Pos.	Player	From	Type	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
MF	Stavros Stamatis	Charavgiakos	Transfer	Free	31 December 1988	30 June 1995
MF	Toni Savevski	Vardar	Transfer	Free	22 November 1988	30 June 1993	[10]

Out

Summer

Pos.	Player	To	Type	Fee	Date	Source
GK	Theologis Papadopoulos	Panionios	Contract termination	—	1 July 1988
DF	Panagiotis Stylianopoulos	Korinthos	End of contract	—	1 July 1988
MF	Nikos Pias	Olympiacos Volos	End of contract	—	1 July 1988
MF	Rajko Janjanin	Retired		—	1 July 1988
MF	Vasilios Vasilakos	Panionios	Contract termination	—	1 July 1988

Winter

Pos.	Player	To	Type	Fee	Date	Source
DF	Polyvios Chatzopoulos	Diagoras	Transfer	Free	31 December 1988
DF	Sotiris Mavrodimos	Olympiacos Volos	Transfer	Free	31 December 1988
FW	Henrik Nielsen	Iraklis	Transfer	₯30,000,000	18 December 1988	[11]

Loan out

Winter

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
FW	Giannakis Ioannou	Olympiacos Chalkida	Free	15 December 1988	30 June 1989	N

Contract renewals

Pos.	Player	Date	Former Exp. Date	New Exp. Date	Source
DF	Stelios Manolas	8 July 1988	1 December 1988	30 June 1993

Overall transfer activity

Pre-season and friendlies

AEK Athens v Galatasaray

27 July 1988 Friendly	AEK Athens	2–2	Galatasaray	Nea Filadelfeia
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Okoński 11' Christodoulou 68'	Report	Tüfekçi 55' Prekazi 70'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 25,000

AEK Athens v Dundee United

1 August 1988 Friendly	AEK Athens	1–2	Dundee United	Nea Filadelfeia
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Pittas 83' (pen.)		Savvidis 53' (o.g.) Redford 79'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v Aris

3 August 1988 Friendly	AEK Athens	4–1	Aris	Nea Filadelfeia
	Nielsen 23', 33' Manolas 75' Okoński 76'			Stadium: AEK Stadium

Galatasaray v AEK Athens

8 August 1988 Friendly	Galatasaray	3–4	AEK Athens	Istanbul
	Çolak 73' (pen.), 75', 82' (pen.)	Report	Nielsen 36' Okoński 62' Patikas 65' Savvidis 67'	Stadium: Ali Sami Yen Stadium Attendance: 45,000

AEK Athens v Ethnikos Piraeus

23 August 1988 Friendly	AEK Athens	0–2	Ethnikos Piraeus	Nea Filadelfeia
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)			Batista	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 3,877

Olympiacos Chalkidas v AEK Athens

25 August 1988 Friendly	Olympiacos Chalkidas	1–1	AEK Athens	Chalkida
17:45 EEST (UTC+3)			Christodoulou (pen.)	Stadium: Municipal Stadium of Chalkida

AEK Athens v Doxa Drama

30 August 1988 Friendly	AEK Athens	4–1	Doxa Drama	Nea Filadelfeia
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Dintsikos 26', 70' Savvidis 38' Christodoulou 86'		Kalaitzidis 60'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v Velež Mostar

12 October 1988 Friendly	AEK Athens	3–2	Velež Mostar	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v Sarıyer

11 January 1989 Friendly	AEK Athens	1–2	Sarıyer	Nea Filadelfeia
	Karagiozopoulos 70' (pen.)			Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v Łódź

22 February 1989 Friendly	AEK Athens	2–2	Łódź	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: AEK Stadium

Competitions

Overall record

Alpha Ethniki

League table

Results summary

Results by Matchday

Fixtures

Greek Cup

Group 13

Matches

Round of 32

UEFA Cup

First round

AEK Athens v Athletic Bilbao

7 September 1988 First leg	AEK Athens	1–0	Athletic Bilbao	Athens, Greece
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Pittas 32'	Report		Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 26,997 Referee: Bob Valentine (Scotland)

Athletic Bilbao v AEK Athens

5 October 1988 Second leg	Athletic Bilbao	2–0 (2–1 agg.)	AEK Athens	Bilbao, Spain
21:15 EEST (UTC+3)	Uralde 3', 6' Salinas  21'	Report	Famelis  9' Pittas  74'	Stadium: Estadio San Mamés Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Luigi Agnolin (Italy)

Statistics

Squad statistics

As of 21 May 1989

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		UEFA Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Antonis Minou	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
—	GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	30	0	4	0	2	0	36	0
—	GK	Fanis Kofinas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
—	DF	Makis Chatzis	22	0	3	0	2	0	27	0
—	DF	Takis Karagiozopoulos	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
—	DF	Stelios Manolas	24	4	4	1	2	0	30	5
—	DF	Giorgos Peppes	16	1	1	0	0	0	17	1
—	DF	Christos Vasilopoulos	20	0	1	0	2	0	23	0
—	DF	Georgios Koutoulas	28	0	4	0	2	0	34	0
—	DF	Dimitris Volonakis	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	DF	Michalis Karousis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
—	MF	Dimitris Pittas	22	2	2	1	2	1	26	4
—	MF	Mirosław Okoński	30	11	3	0	2	0	35	11
—	MF	Pavlos Papaioannou	24	0	4	0	1	0	29	0
—	MF	Giorgos Savvidis	26	7	4	1	1	0	31	8
—	MF	Lampros Georgiadis	17	0	2	0	0	0	19	0
—	MF	Toni Savevski	17	6	1	0	0	0	18	6
—	MF	Jim Patikas	14	1	3	0	2	0	19	1
—	MF	Stavros Stamatis	9	1	0	0	0	0	9	1
—	MF	Giorgos Famelis	16	1	2	1	1	0	19	2
—	MF	Charalampos Zarotiadis	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
—	MF	Michalis Magginas	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
—	MF	Giorgos Papakostoulis	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Forwards
—	FW	Giannis Dintsikos	2	0	2	0	0	0	4	0
—	FW	Dimosthenis Batalis	10	1	0	0	0	0	10	1
—	FW	Frank Klopas	7	1	0	0	0	0	7	1
—	FW	Georgios Christodoulou	26	3	3	0	2	0	31	3
Left during Winter Transfer window
—	DF	Polyvios Chatzopoulos	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
—	DF	Sotiris Mavrodimos	5	0	2	1	2	0	9	1
—	FW	Henrik Nielsen	10	5	4	2	2	0	16	7
—	FW	Giannakis Ioannou	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0

Goalscorers

As of 21 May 1989

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	UEFA Cup	Total
1	MF	Mirosław Okoński	11	0	0	11
2	MF	Giorgos Savvidis	7	1	0	8
3	FW	Henrik Nielsen	5	2	0	7
4	MF	Toni Savevski	6	0	0	6
5	DF	Stelios Manolas	4	1	0	5
6	MF	Dimitris Pittas	2	1	1	4
7	FW	Georgios Christodoulou	3	0	0	3
8	MF	Giorgos Famelis	1	1	0	2
9	DF	Takis Karagiozopoulos	1	0	0	1
	DF	Giorgos Peppes	1	0	0	1
	MF	Stavros Stamatis	1	0	0	1
	MF	Jim Patikas	1	0	0	1
	FW	Dimosthenis Batalis	1	0	0	1
	FW	Frank Klopas	1	0	0	1
	DF	Sotiris Mavrodimos	0	1	0	1
Own goals			0	0	0	0
Totals			45	7	1	53

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 21 May 1989

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	UEFA Cup	Total
1	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	16	2	1	19
Totals		16	2	1	19

Disciplinary record

As of 21 May 1989

N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup			European Cup			Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Antonis Minou
—	GK		Spyros Ikonomopoulos
—	GK		Fanis Kofinas
Defenders
—	DF		Makis Chatzis	1		1							1		1
—	DF		Takis Karagiozopoulos
—	DF		Stelios Manolas	6	1		2						8	1
—	DF		Giorgos Peppes	3		1							3		1
—	DF		Christos Vasilopoulos	3		1							3		1
—	DF		Georgios Koutoulas	1			1						2
—	DF		Dimitris Volonakis
—	DF		Michalis Karousis
Midfielders
—	MF		Dimitris Pittas	4	1					1			5	1
—	MF		Mirosław Okoński	1			1						2
—	MF		Pavlos Papaioannou	7									7
—	MF		Giorgos Savvidis	1									1
—	MF		Lampros Georgiadis	2			1						3
—	MF		Toni Savevski	3									3
—	MF		Jim Patikas	1									1
—	MF		Stavros Stamatis	1									1
—	MF		Giorgos Famelis							1			1
—	MF		Charalampos Zarotiadis
—	MF		Michalis Magginas
—	MF		Giorgos Papakostoulis
Forwards
—	FW		Giannis Dintsikos
—	FW		Dimosthenis Batalis
—	FW		Frank Klopas
—	FW		Georgios Christodoulou
Left during Winter Transfer window
—	DF		Polyvios Chatzopoulos
—	DF		Sotiris Mavrodimos
—	FW		Henrik Nielsen	1									1
—	FW		Giannakis Ioannou

Starting 11

N. Formation Matchday(s) 36 4–3–3 1–30 Nat. Player Pos. Spyros Ikonomopoulos GK Stelios Manolas (C) RCB Georgios Koutoulas LCB Christos Vasilopoulos RB Makis Chatzis LB Pavlos Papaioannou DM Dimitris Pittas RCM Toni Savevski LCM Giorgos Savvidis RW Jim Patikas LW Mirosław Okoński CF

Ikonomopoulos Manolas Koutoulas Vasilopoulos Chatzis Papaioannou Pittas Savevski Savvidis (C) Patikas Okoński Last updated: 1989-05-21

References

External links

• AEK Athens F.C. Official Website
• A.E.K. FC Database