1976–77 AEK Athens F.C. season

AEK Athens

1976–77 season
Chairman	Loukas Barlos
Manager	František Fadrhonc
Stadium	AEK Stadium
Alpha Ethniki	4th
Greek Cup	Round of 16
UEFA Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Thomas Mavros (18) All: Thomas Mavros (21)
Highest home attendance	35,000 vs QPR (16 March 1977)
Lowest home attendance	5,440 vs Panachaiki (19 June 1977)
Average home league attendance	19,769
Biggest win	AEK Athens 5–1 PAS Giannina AEK Athens 4–0 Panetolikos
Biggest defeat	Juventus 4–1 AEK Athens
Home colours
← 1975–76 1977–78 →

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 left in the hands of František Fadrhonc was beginning to take shape. Barlos, according to his usual strategy, increasingly enriched the galaxy of stars in the club's roster. The experienced goalkeeper, Nikos Christidis and the diligent shooter and free-kick specialist, Takis Nikoloudis were integrated in the team of Fadrhonc, both coming from Thessaloniki, Aris and Iraklis respectively, while their defensive capabilities were strengthened with Babis Intzoglou from Panionios. The crowning glory of AEK, of course, was the free move of the great Thomas Mavros in their offense, after the end of the legal dispute with Panionios that kept him out of any competitive activity for a year.^[1] Fadrhonc, considering the playing intelligence and high technical qualities of Papaioannou, decided to relocate him as a "classic number 10", in order to fit all the great attackers the club had to offer.^[2]

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 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 Greek Cup, AEK eliminated away from home Proodeftiki in the first round and Iraklis in the second round. In the round of 16, AEK, again away from home, faced PAOK and were eliminated by a 2–1 defeat.^[3]

The campaign in the UEFA Cup

In the 1976–77 season, everything was overshadowed by the magnificent course of European 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 Panathnaikos 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.^[4]

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" Christidis in the match knowing that the experienced goalkeeper was a cerebral player who psychologized the opponent and in training 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 in the semi-finals.

The draw put the Italian giants, Juventus on the road of AEK to the final of the UEFA Cup. Trapattoni's club had in their roster, players such as Dino Zoff at the goalpost, Gaetano Scirea in defence, Marco Tardelli at the 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 they stare their great 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 great European journey.^[5]

Management team

Position	Staff
Manager	František Fadrhonc
Assistant manager	Andreas Stamatiadis
Goalkeeping coach	Stelios Serafidis

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.

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 32)	1976	Aris	Free	1982
Giorgos Sidiropoulos		GK	(1949-06-25)25 June 1949 (aged 28)	1973	AO Trikala	Free	1978
Lakis Stergioudas		GK	(1952-12-11)11 December 1952 (aged 24)	1972	Niki Poligyrou	Free	1984
Defenders
Giorgos Skrekis		RB / CB	(1945-02-02)2 February 1945 (aged 32)	1974	Panionios	Free	1977
Apostolos Toskas		CB	(1947-12-28)28 December 1947 (aged 29)	1969	Trikala	Free	1979
Lakis Nikolaou		CB / RB / ST / DM	(1949-07-17)17 July 1949 (aged 27)	1971	Atromitos	₯600,000	1979
Babis Intzoglou		RB / LB / CB	(1949-04-01)1 April 1949 (aged 28)	1976	Panionios	Free	1980
Sakis Zarzopoulos		CB / RB / LB	(1949-12-15)15 December 1949 (aged 27)	1973	Panserraikos	Free	1977
Stefanos Theodoridis		CB / RB	(1950-06-19)19 June 1950 (aged 27)	1969	AEK Athens U20	—	1978
Petros Ravousis		CB / RB	(1954-10-01)1 October 1954 (aged 22)	1972	Aetos Skydra	Free	1984
Michalis Michalas		CB	1959 (aged 17–18)	1976	Free agent	Free	1977
Midfielders
Timo Zahnleiter		CM / DM	(1948-12-16)16 December 1948 (aged 28)	1974	1860 München	Free	1978
Lazaros Papadopoulos		RM / RW	(1950-01-03)3 January 1950 (aged 27)	1973	Veria	Free	1979
Dionysis Tsamis		CM / DM / AM	(1951-05-21)21 May 1951 (aged 26)	1972	Panetolikos	₯2,300,000	1980
Takis Nikoloudis		CM / AM / RM / LM	(1951-08-26)26 August 1951 (aged 25)	1977	Iraklis	Free	1981
Christos Ardizoglou		RM / LM / RW / AM	(1953-03-25)25 March 1953 (aged 24)	1974	Apollon Athens	₯5,000,000	1986
Fotis Outsikas		LM / LB / LW	(1957-05-26)26 May 1957 (aged 20)	1975	AEK Athens U20	—	1980
Forwards
Mimis Papaioannou (Captain)		SS / ST / AM	(1942-08-23)23 August 1942 (aged 34)	1962	Veria	₯175,000	1979
Georgios Dedes		ST / SS / RW / LW	(1943-02-25)25 February 1943 (aged 34)	1974	Panionios	Free	1977
Walter Wagner		ST / SS / RW / LW	(1949-07-26)26 July 1949 (aged 27)	1974	Austria Wien	Free	1977
Tasos Konstantinou		RW / SS / ST / RM / AM	(1951-03-11)11 March 1951 (aged 26)	1972	EPA Larnaca	Free	1980
Alekos Papadopulos		ST / SS	(1951-06-05)5 June 1951 (aged 26)	1976	Pakhtakor Tashkent	Free	1977
Thomas Mavros		ST / SS	(1954-05-31)31 May 1954 (aged 23)	1976	Panionios	Free	1984
Giorgos Vlantis		ST	(1958-01-30)30 January 1958 (aged 19)	1976	AEK Athens U20	—	1983
Andreas Xenos		ST	1959 (aged 17–18)	1976	Free agent	Free	1977

Transfers

In

Pos.	Player	From	Type	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
GK	Nikos Christidis	Aris	Transfer	Free	1 July 1976	30 June 1982
DF	Michalis Michalas	Free agent	Transfer	Free	1 July 1976	30 June 1977
DF	Babis Intzoglou	Panionios	Transfer	Free	1 July 1976	30 June 1980
MF	Takis Nikoloudis	Iraklis	Transfer	Free	1 July 1976	30 June 1981
FW	Thomas Mavros	Panionios	Transfer	Free[a]	2 July 1976	30 June 1984	[1]
FW	Giorgos Vlantis	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	—	1 July 1976	30 June 1983
FW	Alekos Papadopulos	Pakhtakor Tashkent	Transfer	Free	1 July 1976	30 June 1977
FW	Andreas Xenos	Free agent	Transfer	Free	1 July 1976	30 June 1977

Notes

Out

Pos.	Player	To	Type	Fee	Date	Source
DF	Spyros Stefanidis	Atromitos	End of contract	—	1 July 1976
MF	Takis Timotheou	Apollon Athens	End of contract	—	1 July 1976

Overall transfer activity

Expenditure: ₯0

Income: ₯0

Net Total: ₯0

Pre-season and friendlies

Competitions

Overall record

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Alpha Ethniki	3 October 1976	26 June 1977	Matchday 1	4th	34	24	3	7	63	29	+34	070.59
Greek Cup	1 December 1976	9 February 1977	First round	Round of 16	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	066.67
UEFA Cup	15 September 1976	20 April 1977	First round	Semi-finals	10	5	0	5	15	15	+0	050.00
Total					47	31	3	13	84	48	+36	065.96

Alpha Ethniki

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
2	Olympiacos	34	23	6	5	70	27	+43	52	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
3	PAOK	34	21	10	3	63	27	+36	52	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round[a]
4	AEK Athens	34	24	3	7	63	29	+34	51	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
5	Aris	34	17	8	9	58	34	+24	42
6	OFI	34	14	5	15	57	51	+6	33

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	24	3	7	63	29	+34	51	15	1	1	42	13	+29	9	2	6	21	16	+5

Results by Matchday

Fixtures

Greek Cup

Matches

UEFA Cup

First round

Second round

Third round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Statistics

Squad statistics

As of 26 June 1977

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		UEFA Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Nikos Christidis	6	0	0	0	2	0	8	0
—	GK	Giorgos Sidiropoulos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
—	GK	Lakis Stergioudas	28	0	3	0	9	0	40	0
Defenders
—	DF	Giorgos Skrekis	5	0	2	0	2	0	9	0
—	DF	Apostolos Toskas	9	0	0	0	1	0	10	0
—	DF	Lakis Nikolaou	27	0	3	0	10	0	40	0
—	DF	Babis Intzoglou	31	0	3	0	7	0	41	0
—	DF	Sakis Zarzopoulos	7	0	0	0	2	0	9	0
—	DF	Stefanos Theodoridis	23	0	3	0	10	0	36	0
—	DF	Petros Ravousis	34	1	3	0	10	0	47	1
—	DF	Michalis Michalas	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Midfielders
—	MF	Timo Zahnleiter	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
—	MF	Lazaros Papadopoulos	24	3	3	0	6	1	33	4
—	MF	Dionysis Tsamis	32	2	1	0	10	0	43	2
—	MF	Takis Nikoloudis	32	11	3	0	9	2	44	13
—	MF	Christos Ardizoglou	24	3	3	1	0	0	27	4
—	MF	Fotis Outsikas	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Forwards
—	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	30	3	2	2	10	3	42	8
—	FW	Georgios Dedes	4	0	2	1	2	0	8	1
—	FW	Walter Wagner	31	12	2	1	10	3	43	16
—	FW	Tasos Konstantinou	26	9	3	1	10	2	39	12
—	FW	Alekos Papadopulos	6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
—	FW	Thomas Mavros	30	18	2	0	10	3	42	21
—	FW	Giorgos Vlantis	7	1	0	0	0	0	7	1
—	FW	Andreas Xenos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goalscorers

As of 26 June 1977

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	UEFA Cup	Total
1	FW	Thomas Mavros	18	0	3	21
2	FW	Walter Wagner	12	1	3	16
3	MF	Takis Nikoloudis	11	0	2	13
4	FW	Tasos Konstantinou	9	1	2	12
5	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	3	2	3	8
6	MF	Christos Ardizoglou	3	1	0	4
	MF	Lazaros Papadopoulos	3	0	1	4
8	MF	Dionysis Tsamis	2	0	0	2
9	DF	Petros Ravousis	1	0	0	1
	FW	Giorgos Vlantis	1	0	0	1
	FW	Georgios Dedes	0	1	0	1
Own goals			1	0	0	1
Totals			64	6	14	84

Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	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.

As of 26 June 1977

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	UEFA Cup	Total
1	Lakis Stergioudas	14	0	4	18
2	Nikos Christidis	0	0	0	0
Totals		14	0	4	18

Disciplinary record

As of 26 June 1977

N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup			UEFA Cup			Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Nikos Christidis
—	GK		Giorgos Sidiropoulos
—	GK		Lakis Stergioudas
Defenders
—	DF		Giorgos Skrekis
—	DF		Apostolos Toskas
—	DF		Lakis Nikolaou	4	1								4	1
—	DF		Babis Intzoglou	2	1					4			6	1
—	DF		Sakis Zarzopoulos	1									1
—	DF		Stefanos Theodoridis	1						1			2
—	DF		Petros Ravousis	1						1			2
—	DF		Michalis Michalas
Midfielders
—	MF		Timo Zahnleiter
—	MF		Lazaros Papadopoulos	1									1
—	MF		DDionysis Tsamis
—	MF		Takis Nikoloudis	2						2			4
—	MF		Christos Ardizoglou	1		1							1		1
—	MF		Fotis Outsikas
Forwards
—	FW		Mimis Papaioannou	1									1
—	FW		Georgios Dedes
—	FW		Walter Wagner	1						1			2
—	FW		Tasos Konstantinou			1									1
—	FW		Alekos Papadopulos
—	FW		Thomas Mavros			1									1
—	FW		Giorgos Vlantis
—	FW		Andreas Xenos

References

External links

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