1978–79 AEK Athens F.C. season

AEK Athens
1978–79 season
Chairman	Loukas Barlos
Manager	Ferenc Puskás; (until 17 March); Andreas Stamatiadis
Stadium	AEK Stadium
Alpha Ethniki	1st
Greek Cup	Runners-up
European Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: ; Thomas Mavros (31); All: ; Thomas Mavros (40)
Highest home attendance	35,000 vs Nottingham Forest; (18 October 1978)
Lowest home attendance	2,204 vs Kavala; (8 November 1978)
Average home league attendance	14,631
Biggest win	AEK Athens 7–0 Kavala
Biggest defeat	Nottingham Forest 5–1 AEK Athens
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1977–78 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 season was the 55th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 20th 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 3 September 1978 and finished on 16 June 1979.

Overview

The peculiarities of the 1978–79 season could well mark it as historic for the Greek Football, while it was also the last semi-professional season as with the enactment of law 879/79 in March, all the football clubs were obliged to be converted into S.A. to participate in the first professional championship of the next season. In the summer, there was an "epidemic" of transfers by iconic players among the big teams. AEK were the only club that was left intact. Georgios Delikaris moved from Olympiacos to Panathinaikos, Antonis Antoniadis followed the opposite path and Mimis Domazos left Panathinaikos. Loukas Barlos seized the chance and signed him to AEK. Thus, for one season, AEK had in their roster at the same time the two best Greek footballers of the century, both born in 1942, both named "Mimis": Papaioannou and Domazos. The addition of the "general", Mimis Domazos to the roster, with his leadership skills and tactical mind, gave the already impressive team, the element that made them one of the most spectacular that have ever played in the Greek stadiums. Furthermore, after the departure of the double winner, Zlatko Čajkovski for Zürich, Barlos brought to the club's bench the great Ferenc Puskás, who alongside Domazos were the architects of Panathinaikos' campaign to the 1971 European Cup Final, hoping that AEK would do a similar breakthrough at the European stage.

In the championship, AEK started impressively and were ahead in the standings. Olympiacos were the only rival for the title. While AEK were generously scattering goals and spectacle, while in the opposite of the event, there were many official complaints of the opponents of Olympiacos for attempts of bribery. In the 12th matchday, Oikonomou of Apollon Athens and on the 23rd and the goalkeeper of PAS Giannina, Lisa, reported of bribery on the side of Olympiacos and on the 32nd matchday, after their match against Olympiacos, Rodos punished Doxakis, Papaoikonomou and Skartados for having reduced performance in the match as Olympiacos turned their 3–1 lead in 23 minutes, with the help of the referee as well.^[1]

AEK also started their obligations in the European Cup against Porto. The quality of the opponent and the fullness of AEK foreshadowed two ambiguous matches with an uncertain outcome. In Nea Filadelfeia, AEK and their fans experienced a magical European night and witnessed the club's biggest victory in the European Cup with 6–1, which gave AEK a largely securing qualification to the next round. In the rematch AEK opened the score in the first half and in the last half hour of the match they turned off the engines as the Portuguese grabbed the opportunity and scored four goals. Next opponent for AEK, Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. The "reds" having learned not to underestimate their opponents and being aware of AEK's impressive performance against Porto, came to Nea Filadelfeia for the first leg, completely focused on their goal. Nottingham took the lead early on and at the 21st minute, AEK were left with 10 players after the suspension of Milton Viera. At the end of the half Nottingham doubled their lead and until the match was over the Englishmen played conservatively with AEK managing to reduce in the final 1–2. In the second leg AEK entered the pitch knowing well that a difficult night that awaited them. In the first half, Nottingham easily scored three goals having lost several opportunities to a widen the score, while at the second half, AEK reduced to 3–1 with a header from Bajević. Nottingham completed their imposing appearance with a 5–1 victory and eventually won the trophy.

Towards the end of the championship, AEK presented an inexplicable decline in their performance and in the face of the risk of losing the title after the away defeat by Aris on March 11, Barlos decided to remove Puskás from bench of the team and assigned it to his assistant, Andreas Stamatiadis for the rest of the season. In the cup, it was the first year that the two legged tie, for the quarter-finals and the semi-finals were established, according to the model of European cups. AEK marched through the first three rounds eliminating Kavala, Proodeftiki and Acharnaikos, respectively. In the quarter-final against Anagennisi Epanomi after a 1–1 away draw, AEK won 2–0 in the second leg and qualified to the semi-finals where they faced Panachaiki. In Patras, they were defeated by 3–2, but at home AEK won easily by 5–1. In the final AEK met Panionios who came from two consecutive unexpected qualifications. In the game, while AEK managed to take the lead early on, Panionios succeeded in putting AEK to "sleep", by not letting them impose their frenetic tempo and completed the comeback winning by 3–1, in one of the biggest surprises in the history of the institution.^[2]

The end of the championship found AEK and Olympiacos, even in the first place with 56 points and a play-off match for the title was set. Olympiacos either in fear of a possible embarrassment from AEK, or as part of an unofficial deal with the HFF in exchange for silencing allegations of bribery and consequently avoiding demotion, were not going to show up to the match. The excuse was the protest for the refereeing of Charalampos Pamporidis against OFI in the last matchday, considering him responsible for not managing to complete the comeback of a 3–1 loss that would resulted in winning the league. On June 16, at the stadium on Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, AEK were the only team lined up on the pitch. The absence of Olympiacos automatically declared AEK champion with a 2–0 victory without a match.^[3] During the season AEK were an unstoppable football machine that dismantled their opponents as they achieved the league's best offense with a total of 90 goals, rewarding their opponents 6 times with 5 goals and 2 with 7 goals. Thomas Mavros was declared the top scorer of the league with 31 goals and 40 in total, winning the European Silver Shoe, just 3 goals behind Kees Kist.^[4] In the third place of the top scorers of the league was Dušan Bajević with 24 goals and in the 8th, Takis Nikoloudis with 12. That season would be the last at AEK for the emblematic leader, Mimis Papaioannou which after 17 consecutive years of presence, he would be passed on the pantheon of the legends in the history of the club.^[5]

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 16 June 1979, 23:59 UTC+3.

Player	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Nikos Christidis	GK	(1944-08-02)2 August 1944 (aged 34)	1976	Aris	Free	1982
Lakis Stergioudas	GK	(1952-12-11)11 December 1952 (aged 26)	1972	Niki Poligyrou	Free	1985
Spyros Ikonomopoulos	GK	(1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 19)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1984
Defenders
Apostolos Toskas	CB	(1947-12-28)28 December 1947 (aged 31)	1969	Trikala	Free	1979
Lakis Nikolaou (Captain)	CB / RB / ST / DM	(1949-07-17)17 July 1949 (aged 29)	1971	Atromitos	₯600,000	1979
Babis Intzoglou	RB / LB / CB	(1949-04-01)1 April 1949 (aged 30)	1976	Panionios	Free	1980
Giannis Mousouris	RB / RM / ST	(1951-01-26)26 January 1951 (aged 28)	1977	AEL	₯3,000,000	1982
Petros Ravousis	CB / RB	(1954-10-01)1 October 1954 (aged 24)	1972	Aetos Skydra	Free	1985
Aris Damianidis	CB / RB	(1955-03-02)2 March 1955 (aged 24)	1977	Egaleo	Free	1980
Dimitris Kotsos	LB	(1955-03-30)30 March 1955 (aged 24)	1978	Kastoria	Free	1980
Stavros Letsas	RB / RM / CB	(1957-03-06)6 March 1957 (aged 22)	1978	Agioi Anargyroi	Free	1986
Panagiotis Stylianopoulos	RB / LB	(1957-09-04)4 September 1957 (aged 21)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1986
Theodoros Apostolopoulos	CB	1959 (aged 19–20)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1980
Midfielders
Mimis Domazos	AM / SS	(1942-01-22)22 January 1942 (aged 37)	1978	Panathinaikos	Free	1980
Milton Viera	CM / DM	(1946-05-11)11 May 1946 (aged 33)	1977	Olympiacos	Free	1980
Lazaros Papadopoulos	RM / RW	(1950-01-03)3 January 1950 (aged 29)	1973	Veria	Free	1979
Dionysis Tsamis	CM / DM / AM	(1951-05-21)21 May 1951 (aged 28)	1972	Panetolikos	₯2,300,000	1980
Takis Nikoloudis	CM / AM / RM / LM	(1951-08-26)26 August 1951 (aged 27)	1977	Iraklis	Free	1981
Christos Ardizoglou	RM / LM / RW / AM	(1953-03-25)25 March 1953 (aged 26)	1974	Apollon Athens	₯5,000,000	1982
Christos Kalaitzidis	LM	(1959-02-06)6 February 1959 (aged 20)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1981
Dimitris Kokkinopoulos	RM / RW	1960 (aged 18–19)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1980
Forwards
Mimis Papaioannou (Vice-captain)	SS / ST / AM	(1942-08-23)23 August 1942 (aged 36)	1962	Veria	₯175,000	1979
Dušan Bajević	ST / SS	(1948-12-10)10 December 1948 (aged 30)	1977	Velež Mostar	Free	1981
Tasos Konstantinou	RW / SS / ST / RM / AM	(1951-03-11)11 March 1951 (aged 28)	1972	EPA Larnaca	Free	1980
Thomas Mavros	ST / LW	(1954-05-31)31 May 1954 (aged 25)	1976	Panionios	₯4,000,000	1980

Transfers

In

Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Date	Contract Until
GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	1 July 1978	30 June 1984
DF	Theodoros Apostolopoulos	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	1 July 1978	30 June 1980
DF	Stavros Letsas	Agioi Anargyroi	Free transfer	1 July 1978	30 June 1986
DF	Panagiotis Stylianopoulos	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	1 July 1978	30 June 1986
DF	Dimitris Kotsos	Kastoria	Free transfer	1 July 1978	30 June 1980
ΜF	Dimitris Kokkinopoulos	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	1 July 1978	30 June 1980
ΜF	Christos Kalaitzidis	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	1 July 1978	30 June 1981
MF	Mimis Domazos	Panathinaikos	Free transfer	17 July 1978	30 June 1980

Out

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date
DF	Stefanos Theodoridis	Olympiacos	End of contract	1 July 1978
MF	Fotis Outsikas	Acharnaikos	Contract termination	1 July 1978
MF	Giorgos Vlachonikolis	Free agent	End of contract	1 July 1978

Loan out

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
MF	Giorgos Vlantis	Panachaiki	Free	1 July 1978	30 June 1980	N

Overall transfer activity

Expenditure: ₯0

Income: ₯0

Net Total: ₯0

Pre-season and friendlies

2 August 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	1–1	Nottingham Forest	Nea Filadelfeia
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Viera 69'		Woodcock 15'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Alexopoulos

7 August 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	0–2	Steaua București	Nea Filadelfeia
21:30 EEST (UTC+3)			Troi 38' Răducanu 81'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

9 August 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	3–2	Brno	Nea Filadelfeia
19:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Bajević 30', 62' Papadopoulos 75'		Kopenec 69' Hausti 80'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

16 August 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	3–1	Club Brugge	Nea Filadelfeia
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Konstantinou 14', 38' Ravousis 85'		Courant 77'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

19 August 1978 Friendly	La Louvière	3–4	AEK Athens	La Louvière
20:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Dardenne 10' De Bolle 20' Rohde 68'		Bajević 18' Nikoloudis 21', 78' Ardizoglou 24'	Stadium: Stade du Tivoli

22 August 1978 Friendly	Beveren	3–1	AEK Athens	Beveren
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Stevens 23' Truyens 37' Albert 50'		Nikoloudis 48'	Stadium: Freethiel Stadion

23 August 1978 Friendly	Cercle Brugge	0–1	AEK Athens	Bruges
			Kalaitzidis 19'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium

27 August 1978 Friendly	Chalkida	0–2	AEK Athens	Chalcis
			Konstantinou 37' Vlachos 85' (o.g.)	Stadium: Municipal Stadium of Chalkida

30 August 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	1–0	OFI	Nea Filadelfeia
17:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Bajević 37'			Stadium: AEK Stadium

22 September 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	7–0	Ionikos	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: AEK Stadium

4 October 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	3–5	New York Cosmos	Nea Filadelfeia
20:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Mavros 6', 13', 82'	Report	Seninho 3' Chinaglia 50', 64', 66' Tueart 52'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

25 October 1978 Friendly	Velež Mostar	4–2	AEK Athens	Mostar
	30' 40' 56' 61'		Papaioannou 46' Kalaitzidis 86'	Stadium: Bijeli Brijeg

26 November 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	4–2	Saudi Arabia	Nea Filadelfeia
15:00 EET (UTC+2)	Papaioannou 40' Kalaitzidis 56' (pen.), 86' Kokkinopoulos 62'		Secia 70' Khalifa 78'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

3 December 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	3–2	Münster	Nea Filadelfeia
20:00 EET (UTC+2)	Konstantinou 25' (pen.) Bajević 41' Chatziioannidis 68'		Gede 8' Schütte 65'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

15 March 1979 Friendly	AEK Athens	2–2	Greece amateur	Nea Filadelfeia
15:00 EET (UTC+2)	Vlachos 65' Domazos 78'		Stafylas 10' Xanthopoulos 89'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

4 April 1979 Friendly	AEK Athens	5–3	Greece military	Nea Filadelfeia
16:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Bajević 5', 22' Domazos 32' Stafylas 85'		Mavros 11' Kostikos 25' Psarras 79'	Stadium: AEK Stadium
Note: Thomas Mavros played with Greece military, against his team since he was serving in the Greek Army at the time.

1 May 1979 Friendly	OFI	1–1	AEK Athens	Heraklion
	Papadopoulos 54'		Bajević 50'	Stadium: Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium

10 May 1979 Friendly	AEL	2–0	AEK Athens	Larissa
	Yfantis 10' Vouroukos 18'			Stadium: Alcazar Stadium

6 June 1979 Mimis Papaioannou Testimonial	AEK Athens	2–3	PAOK	Nea Filadelfeia
	Schachner 48' Papadopoulos 60'	Report	Guerino 38' (pen.) Koudas 73', 80'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 8,777
Note: Friendly match in honour of Mimis Papaioannou, who was leaving AEK after 17 years of presence at the club. AEK played with a mixed team, consisting of football friends who wanted to honor Papaioannou. The yellow and black jersey that day, was worn by footballers of Aris, Giannis Venos and Georgios Firos, Fanis Theofanous of Pezoporikos Larnaca, Manolis Kottis of Rodos a year before his transfer to AEK, Walter Schachner of Austria Wien, Kurt Jara of Duisburg, Pantelidis of PAS Giannina, Eleftheriadis of Veria, Vaggis of Egaleo, Antonis Antoniadis of Olympiacos, Michalis Tzirakis and Dimitrios Papadopoulos of OFI both before moving to AEK at some time, Charalampos Xanthopoulos of Iraklis and Lakis Papaioannou of Pierikos, but most importantly by Vasilis Hatzipanagis, one of the greatest Greek footballers of all time.

Competitions

Overall record

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Alpha Ethniki	3 September 1978	3 June 1979	Matchday 1	Winners	34	25	6	3	90	60	+30	073.53
Championship play-off	16 June 1979		Final	Winners	1	1	0	0	0	0	+0	100.00
Greek Cup	8 November 1978	9 June 1979	First round	Runners-up	8	5	1	2	24	8	+16	062.50
European Cup	13 September 1978	1 November 1978	First round	Second round	4	1	0	3	9	12	−3	025.00
Total					47	32	7	8	123	80	+43	068.09

Last updated: 16 June 1979
Source: Competitions

Alpha Ethniki

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	AEK Athens^[a] (C)	34	25	6	3	90	30	+60	56	Qualification for European Cup first round
2	Olympiacos^[a]	34	26	4	4	63	27	+36	56	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
3	Aris	34	22	6	6	63	26	+37	50	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
4	PAOK	34	18	9	7	73	23	+50	45
5	Panathinaikos	34	14	10	10	46	37	+9	38

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th decision match.
(C) Champions
Notes:

^ ^a ^b AEK Athens pronounced champions, because Olympiacos did not show up for the play-off match.

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	25	6	3	90	30	+60	56	15	2	0	62	12	+50	10	4	3	28	18	+10

Source: Competitive matches

Results by Matchday

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H
Result	W	W	W	W	W	D	L	W	W	D	W	W	W	D	W	W	D	W	L	D	W	W	L	W	W	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	W	W
Position	3	2	2	1	1	1	3	2	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	3	3	2	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1

Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; P = Postponed

Fixtures

3 September 1978 1	Egaleo	0–2	AEK Athens	Aigaleo
17:00 EEST (UTC+3)			Mavros 48' Bajević 67'	Stadium: Aigaleo Municipal Stadium Attendance: 10,206 Referee: Nikos Lampropoulos (Elis)

10 September 1978 2	AEK Athens	3–2	PAOK	Nea Filadelfeia
17:00 EET (UTC+2)	Mavros 1' Domazos 65', 86'		Intzoglou 14' (o.g.) Koudas 88'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 27,854 Referee: Grippas (Kavala)

24 September 1978 3	Olympiacos	0–1	AEK Athens	Piraeus
16:30 EEST (UTC+3)			Bajević 22'	Stadium: Karaiskakis Stadium Attendance: 38,934 Referee: Antonis Vassaras (Thessaloniki)

1 October 1978 4	AEK Athens	5–1	Iraklis	Nea Filadelfeia
15:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Nikoloudis 8' Bajević 72' (pen.), 79', 81' Mavros 85'		Chatzieleftheriou 38'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 16,595 Referee: Dimitris Pantzalis (Piraeus)

14 October 1978 5	Panionios	0–1	AEK Athens	Nea Smyrni
			Nikoloudis 75'	Stadium: Nea Smyrni Stadium Attendance: 9,951 Referee: Vasilis Patarakis (Piraeus)

21 October 1978 6	AEK Athens	1–1	Aris	Nea Filadelfeia
15:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Domazos 20'		Zindros 32'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 10,660 Referee: Giannis Tsionas (Larissa)

5 November 1978 7	Ethnikos Piraeus	3–1	AEK Athens	Piraeus
14:30 EET (UTC+2)	Makaratzis 60' Mitropoulos 85', 89'		Mavros 71'	Stadium: Karaiskakis Stadium Attendance: 24,067 Referee: Kostas Karakitsos (Athens)

12 November 1978 8	AEK Athens	4–0	Panachaiki	Nea Filadelfeia
14:30 EET (UTC+2)	Nikoloudis 3' Mavros 28' Papadopoulos 47' Ardizoglou 63'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 8,704 Referee: Nikos Lagogiannis (Piraeus)

19 November 1978 9	AEK Athens	2–0	Apollon Athens	Nea Filadelfeia
14:30 EET (UTC+2)	Mavros 30' Ardizoglou 38'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 10,257 Referee: Aristeidis Lekkas (Piraeus)

10 December 1978 10	Panathinaikos	2–2	AEK Athens	Ampelokipoi
14:30 EET (UTC+2)	Álvarez 6' Eleftheriadis 22' (pen.)		Bajević 25' Mavros 67'	Stadium: Leoforos Alexandras Stadium Attendance: 23,150 Referee: Panagiotis Tsolakidis (Thessaloniki)

17 December 1978 11	AEK Athens	2–1	Kastoria	Nea Filadelfeia
14:30 EET (UTC+2)	Ardizoglou 45' Mousouris 81'		Papetas 52'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 10,606 Referee: Kostas Karakitsos (Lamia)

24 December 1978 12	Rodos	0–1	AEK Athens	Rhodes
14:30 EET (UTC+2)			Mavros 72'	Stadium: Municipal Stadium Ekonomideio Attendance: 4,552 Referee: Dimitris Pantzalis (Piraeus)

31 December 1978 13	AEK Athens	5–0	Panserraikos	Nea Filadelfeia
14:30 EET (UTC+2)	Mavros 23' Bajević 20' (pen.), 32' (pen.), 40' (pen.), 54'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 9,223 Referee: Giorgos Katsoras (Thessaloniki)

7 January 1979 14	OFI	0–0	AEK Athens	Heraklion
14:30 EET (UTC+2)				Stadium: Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium Attendance: 8,228 Referee: Panagiotis Tsolakidis (Thessaloniki)

14 January 1979 15	AEK Athens	4–2	AEL	Nea Filadelfeia
14:30 EET (UTC+2)	Nikoloudis 23' Mavros 28', 32', 45'		Kritikos 61' (pen.) Mousiaris 84'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 11,436 Referee: Giannis Triantafyllou (Dodecanese)

26 December 1979 16	Kavala	1–2	AEK Athens	Kavala
14:30 EET (UTC+2)	Mana 87'		Mavros 17', 63'	Stadium: Kavala National Stadium Attendance: 9,651 Referee: Tsoukaladelis (Lamia)

28 January 1979 17	PAS Giannina	1–1	AEK Athens	Ioannina
15:00 EET (UTC+2)	Kontogeorgakis 15'		Papaioannou 81'	Stadium: Zosimades Stadium Attendance: 11,166 Referee: Grippas

4 February 1979 18	AEK Athens	5–0	Egaleo	Nea Filadelfeia
15:00 EET (UTC+2)	Mavros 3', 12', 60' Bajević 27' Domazos 70'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 13,402 Referee: Manolis Platopoulos (Athens)

11 February 1979 19	PAOK	2–1	AEK Athens	Thessaloniki
15:00 EET (UTC+2)	Guerino 49' (pen.) Kostikos 84'		Bajević 88'	Stadium: Kaftanzoglio Stadium Attendance: 41,909 Referee: Kostas Dedes (Messinia)

18 February 1979 20	AEK Athens	0–0	Olympiacos	Nea Filadelfeia
15:00 EET (UTC+2)				Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 29,807 Referee: Nikos Zlatanos (Thessaloniki)

25 February 1979 21	Iraklis	2–3	AEK Athens	Thessaloniki
15:00 EET (UTC+2)	Hatzipanagis 39' Gesios 50'		Mavros 26' Mousouris 44' Bajević 51'	Stadium: Kaftanzoglio Stadium Attendance: 14,354 Referee: Manolis Vardakas (Kozani)

4 March 1979 22	AEK Athens	4–0	Panionios	Nea Filadelfeia
15:00 EET (UTC+2)	Bajević 10', 52' Mavros 31' Gravanis 41' (o.g.)			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 13,554 Referee: Giorgos Petropoulos (Athens)

11 March 1979 23	Aris	2–1	AEK Athens	Thessaloniki
15:30 EET (UTC+2)	Pallas 42' Semertzidis 49'		Bajević 6'	Stadium: Aris Stadium Attendance: 27,000 Referee: Giorgos Armodoros (Piraeus)

18 March 1979 24	AEK Athens	5–1	Ethnikos Piraeus	Nea Filadelfeia
15:30 EET (UTC+2)	Bajević 16', 62' Mavros 42' Nikoloudis 50', 70'		Karaiskos 50'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 17,454 Referee: Panagiotis Tsolakidis (Thessaloniki)

25 March 1979 25	Panachaiki	1–2	AEK Athens	Patras
15:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Davourlis 61'		Nikoloudis 31', 40'	Stadium: Panachaiki Stadium Attendance: 11,833 Referee: Giannis Petrakis (Heraklion)

1 April 1979 26	Apollon Athens	1–3	AEK Athens	Rizoupoli
16:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Papadimitriou 90' (pen.)		Ardizoglou 20' Mavros 67', 79' (pen.)	Stadium: Rizoupoli Stadium Attendance: 14,169 Referee: Nikos Fakis (Athens)

8 April 1979 27	AEK Athens	1–0	Panathinaikos	Nea Filadelfeia
16:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Nikoloudis 39'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 28,789 Referee: Giorgos Petropoulos (Athens)
Note: A few minutes before the half time whistle a fierce clash between the players broke out, after a foul by Eleftherakis on Mavros. The wild beating between the players resulted in the expulsion of Nikoloudis and Livathinos. After the match Álvarez spoke out against Domazos, accusing him of spitting him while threatening, in which the latter responded the following day accepting the charges and challenging him to a fight.^[6]

15 April 1979 28	Kastoria	1–1	AEK Athens	Kastoria
16:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Paunovski 77'		Mousouris 85'	Stadium: Municipal Stadium of Kastoria Attendance: 3,513 Referee: G. Moschopoulos (Thessaloniki)

25 April 1979 29	AEK Athens	5–2	Rodos	Nea Filadelfeia
16:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Bajević 20' Mavros 47', 78' Papaioannou 71' Nikolaou 84'		Kottis 37', 61'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 15,001 Referee: Manolis Vardakas (Kozani)

6 May 1979 30	Panserraikos	2–5	AEK Athens	Serres
16:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Tsiolas 25' Anastasiadis 69'		Mavros 43', 46', 78' Ardizoglou 44' Bajević 87'	Stadium: Serres Municipal Stadium Attendance: 2,716 Referee: Giorgos Katsoras (Thessaloniki)

13 May 1979 31	AEK Athens	2–0	OFI	Nea Filadelfeia
17:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Bajević 2' Konstantinou 89'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 13,634 Referee: G. Moschopoulos (Thessaloniki)

20 May 1979 32	AEL	0–1	AEK Athens	Larissa
17:00 EEST (UTC+3)			Nikoloudis 27'	Stadium: Alcazar Stadium Attendance: 11,731 Referee: Antonis Vassaras (Thessaloniki)

27 May 1979 33	AEK Athens	7–0	Kavala	Nea Filadelfeia
17:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Bajević 7', 23' Mavros 15', 21', 42' (pen.) Konstantinou 58' Nikoloudis 80'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 10,306 Referee: Grippas

3 June 1979 34	AEK Athens	7–2	PAS Giannina	Nea Filadelfeia
17:15 EEST (UTC+3)	Konstantinou 3', 59' Bajević 11' Nikoloudis 26' Ardizoglou 29' Domazos 36' Mavros 48'		Papachristou 61' (pen.) Seitaridis 67'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 7,244 Referee: Thomaidis (Piraeus)

Championship play-off

16 June 1979 Play-off match	AEK Athens	2–0 (Awarded)	Olympiacos	Ampelokipoi
20:00 EEST (UTC+3)		Report		Stadium: Leoforos Alexandras Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Ioannis Ioannidis (Thessaloniki)
Note: Olympiacos did not show up, so the match, as well as the title, were awarded to AEK Athens.

Greek Cup

Matches

8 November 1978 First round	AEK Athens	5–2	Kavala	Nea Filadelfeia
14:00 EET (UTC+2)	Mavros 10', 71', 83' (pen.) Bajević 40', 68', 85'		Machairidis 69' Filippidis 87'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 2,204 Referee: Thomaidis (Piraeus)

31 January 1979 Second round	AEK Athens	4–0	Proodeftiki	Nea Filadelfeia
15:30 EET (UTC+2)	Bajević 18', 64' Ravousis 47' Konstantinou 74'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 6,071 Referee: Stefanos Rammos (Thessaloniki)

21 February 1979 Round of 16	AEK Athens	4–0	Acharnaikos	Nea Filadelfeia
15:30 EET (UTC+2)	Bajević 6', 67' Papadopoulos 28' Mavros 56'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 2,546 Referee: Antonis Patrikas (Euboea)

Quarter-finals

14 March 1979 First leg	Anagennisi Epanomi	1–1	AEK Athens	Thessaloniki
15:30 EET (UTC+2)	Krystallidis Tsilios 82'		Mousouris Viera Nikoloudis 71'	Stadium: Epanomi Municipal Stadium Attendance: 2,598 Referee: Charalampos Pamporidis (Pella)

18 April 1979 Second leg	AEK Athens	2–0 (3–1 agg.)	Anagennisi Epanomi	Nea Filadelfeia
15:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Mavros 41' Ravousis 85' Bajević 87'		Dalis 53'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 6,092 Referee: Nikos Lagogiannis (Piraeus)

Semi-finals

16 May 1979 First leg	Panachaiki	3–2	AEK Athens	Patras
16:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Spentzopoulos Davourlis Ioakimidis 25' Georgopoulos 63', 80'		Nikolaou Mavros 3' Ravousis 75'	Stadium: Panachaiki Stadium Attendance: 7,956 Referee: Thomaidis (Piraeus)

30 May 1979 Second leg	AEK Athens	5–1 (7–4 agg.)	Panachaiki	Nea Filadelfeia
17:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Nikoloudis 10', 15' Mavros 35' Bajević 70', 80'		Davourlis 25', 83'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 11,703 Referee: Manolis Vardakas (Kozani)

Final

9 June 1979 Final	Panionios	3–1	AEK Athens	Piraeus
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Anastopoulos 51' Mavrikis 62' Lima 67' Pathiakakis 84'	Report	Konstantinou 3', 71' Nikolaou 50'	Stadium: Karaiskakis Stadium Attendance: 20,299 Referee: Nikos Lagogiannis (Piraeus)

European Cup

First round

13 September 1978 First leg	AEK Athens	6–1	Porto	Athens, Greece
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Bajević 3', 20' Ardizoglou 16' Konstantinou 39' Nikolaou 58' Mavros 60'	Report	Oliveira 45', 81' Teixeira 64'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 33,000 Referee: Eldar Azimzade (Soviet Union)
Note: AEK Athens' largest victory in the European Cup.

27 September 1978 Second leg	Porto	4–1 (5–7 agg.)	AEK Athens	Porto, Portugal
21:45 EEST (UTC+3)	Berg 43' Vital 63', 83' Teixeira 79' Gomes 88'	Report	Intzoglou 3' Mavros 32'	Stadium: Estádio das Antas Attendance: 62,000 Referee: Charles Corver (Netherlands)

Second round

18 October 1978 First leg	AEK Athens	1–2	Nottingham Forest	Athens, Greece
20:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Viera 22' 22' Konstantinou 59' (pen.) Ravousis 62'	Report	McGovern 10' Burns 22' Birtles 45'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Robert Wurtz (France)

1 November 1978 Second leg	Nottingham Forest	5–1 (7–2 agg.)	AEK Athens	Nottingham, England
20:30 EET (UTC+2)	Needham 12' Woodcock 35' Anderson 40' Birtles 66', 72'	Report	Bajević 50' Nikolaou 61'	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 38,069 Referee: Ulf Eriksson (Sweden)

Statistics

Squad statistics

As of 16 June 1979

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		European Cup		Total
No.	Pos	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Nikos Christidis	5	0	5	0	2	0	12	0
—	GK	Lakis Stergioudas	30	0	3	0	2	0	35	0
—	GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
—	DF	Apostolos Toskas	6	0	4	0	1	0	11	0
—	DF	Lakis Nikolaou	28	1	6	0	4	1	38	2
—	DF	Babis Intzoglou	17	0	3	0	4	0	24	0
—	DF	Giannis Mousouris	32	3	5	0	4	0	41	3
—	DF	Petros Ravousis	30	0	7	2	4	0	41	2
—	DF	Aris Damianidis	7	0	1	0	1	0	9	0
—	DF	Dimitris Kotsos	21	0	5	0	0	0	26	0
—	DF	Stavros Letsas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
—	DF	Panagiotis Stylianopoulos	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
—	DF	Theodoros Apostolopoulos	9	0	7	0	0	0	16	0
Midfielders
—	MF	Mimis Domazos	29	5	4	0	2	0	35	5
—	MF	Milton Viera	8	0	3	0	2	0	13	0
—	MF	Lazaros Papadopoulos	9	1	1	1	2	0	12	2
—	MF	Dionysis Tsamis	27	0	5	0	1	0	33	0
—	MF	Takis Nikoloudis	31	12	6	3	4	0	41	15
—	MF	Christos Ardizoglou	29	6	6	0	4	1	39	7
—	MF	Christos Kalaitzidis	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
—	MF	Dimitris Kokkinopoulos	5	0	3	0	0	0	8	0
Forwards
—	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	22	2	3	0	0	0	25	2
—	FW	Dušan Bajević	29	24	8	9	4	3	41	36
—	FW	Tasos Konstantinou	25	4	6	2	4	2	35	8
—	FW	Thomas Mavros	33	31	6	7	4	2	43	40

Goalscorers

As of 16 June 1979

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	European Cup	Total
1	FW	Thomas Mavros	31	7	2	40
2	FW	Dušan Bajević	24	9	3	36
3	MF	Takis Nikoloudis	12	3	0	15
4	FW	Tasos Konstantinou	4	2	2	8
5	MF	Christos Ardizoglou	6	0	1	7
6	MF	Mimis Domazos	5	0	0	5
7	DF	Giannis Mousouris	3	0	0	3
8	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	2	0	0	2
	MF	Lazaros Papadopoulos	1	1	0	2
	DF	Lakis Nikolaou	1	0	1	2
	DF	Petros Ravousis	0	2	0	2
Own goals			1	0	0	1
Totals			90	24	9	123

Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition	Source
Dušan Bajević	Iraklis	5–1 (H)	1 October 1978	Alpha Ethniki
Thomas Mavros	Kavala	5–2 (H)	8 November 1978	Greek Cup
Dušan Bajević⁴	Panserraikos	5–0 (H)	31 December 1978	Alpha Ethniki	^[7]
Thomas Mavros	AEL	4–2 (H)	14 January 1979	Alpha Ethniki	^[8]
Thomas Mavros	Egaleo	5–0 (H)	4 February 1979	Alpha Ethniki
Thomas Mavros	Panserraikos	5–2 (A)	6 May 1979	Alpha Ethniki	^[9]
Thomas Mavros	Kavala	7–0 (H)	27 May 1979	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 16 June 1979

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Total
1	Lakis Stergioudas	13	0	13
2	Nikos Christidis	2	3	5
Totals		15	3	18

Disciplinary record

As of 16 June 1979

N	P	Nat.	Name											Notes
N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup		European Cup		Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Nikos Christidis
—	GK		Lakis Stergioudas	1							1
—	GK		Spyros Ikonomopoulos
Defenders
—	DF		Apostolos Toskas	1							1
—	DF		Lakis Nikolaou			1	2		1		3		1
—	DF		Babis Intzoglou						1		1
—	DF		Giannis Mousouris	2			1				3
—	DF		Petros Ravousis	7	1		1		1		9	1
—	DF		Aris Damianidis
—	DF		Dimitris Kotsos	3							3
—	DF		Stavros Letsas
—	DF		Panagiotis Stylianopoulos
—	DF		Theodoros Apostolopoulos
Midfielders
—	MF		Mimis Domazos
—	MF		Milton Viera	1			1		2	1	4	1
—	MF		Lazaros Papadopoulos
—	MF		Dionysis Tsamis	1							1
—	MF		Takis Nikoloudis			1							1
—	MF		Christos Ardizoglou	1							1
—	MF		Christos Kalaitzidis
—	MF		Dimitris Kokkinopoulos
Forwards
—	FW		Mimis Papaioannou
—	FW		Dušan Bajević	2		1	1				3		1
—	FW		Tasos Konstantinou					1					1
—	FW		Thomas Mavros

Awards

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

References

^ "Η διαχρονική αναξιοπιστία του ομορφότερου παιχνιδιού". contra.gr.
^ "Το πρώτο Κύπελλο του Πανιωνίου". oldfootball.gr. 9 June 2016. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
^ "Σαν σήμερα: Ολυμπιακός-ΑΕΚ, "Θρύλε τρέμεις, γι' αυτό δεν κατεβαίνεις"". sdna.gr. 16 June 2018.
^ "Golden Boot Awards". RSSSF. 2 December 2021.
^ "Περίοδος 1978-1979". aekpedia.com (in Greek). 20 May 2015.
^ "Και γκολ…και ξύλο στον Παναθηναϊκό!". aek-live.gr.
^ "Σαν Σήμερα: Η «νταμπλούχος» ΑΕΚ αποχαιρέτησε το 1978 στην κορυφή!". inaek.com (in Greek). Online. 31 December 2021.
^ "1978-79 : 15η : ΑΕΚ - ΑΕΛ 4-2". vissini.gr (in Greek). Online.
^ "Χατ-τρικ μέσα σε πέντε λεπτά ο Μαύρος ο Θεός!". aek365.org (in Greek). Online. 6 May 2015.

External links

[table_note_AEK0.58477722182161-6] AEK Athens pronounced champions, because Olympiacos did not show up for the play-off match.

[1] "Η διαχρονική αναξιοπιστία του ομορφότερου παιχνιδιού". contra.gr.

[2] "Το πρώτο Κύπελλο του Πανιωνίου". oldfootball.gr. 9 June 2016. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2022.

[3] "Σαν σήμερα: Ολυμπιακός-ΑΕΚ, "Θρύλε τρέμεις, γι' αυτό δεν κατεβαίνεις"". sdna.gr. 16 June 2018.

[4] "Golden Boot Awards". RSSSF. 2 December 2021.

[5] "Περίοδος 1978-1979". aekpedia.com (in Greek). 20 May 2015.

[7] "Και γκολ…και ξύλο στον Παναθηναϊκό!". aek-live.gr.

[8] "Σαν Σήμερα: Η «νταμπλούχος» ΑΕΚ αποχαιρέτησε το 1978 στην κορυφή!". inaek.com (in Greek). Online. 31 December 2021.

[9] "1978-79 : 15η : ΑΕΚ - ΑΕΛ 4-2". vissini.gr (in Greek). Online.

[10] "Χατ-τρικ μέσα σε πέντε λεπτά ο Μαύρος ο Θεός!". aek365.org (in Greek). Online. 6 May 2015.

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