# 1968–69 AEK Athens F.C. season

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 coach, 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 coach was deemed imperative. Thus, the great Yugoslav Branko Stanković was hired, who had already presented great achievements as a technician, 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, AEK started very badly in the championship. Afterwards, they continued with five consecutive victories. One of these was an emphatic 2–3 away win against Olympiacos with Papaioannou playing as goalkeeper from the 85th minute, due to the suspension of Serafidis and even making two great saves and securing the great victory.
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 Czechoslovakian 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. At the round of 16 they faced Panachaiki and were eliminated with a 4–2 away defeat. 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. The principles of this renewal were based in finding players that would increase the team's height, reduce the team's age average and discipline to the coach's plan during matches.

## 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.
| Player | Position(s) | Date of birth (Age) | Signed | Previous club | Transfer fee | Contract until |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||
| Stelios Serafidis | GK | (1935-08-06)6 August 1935 (aged 33) | 1953 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1972 |
| Theodoros Maniateas | GK | (1945-03-19)19 March 1945 (aged 24) | 1964 | Panthisiakos | Free | 1969 |
| Stelios Konstantinidis | GK | (1947-06-06)6 June 1947 (aged 22) | 1967 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1973 |
| Vyronas Amelidis | GK | 1949 (aged 19–20) | 1968 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1973 |
| Defenders ||||||||
| Alekos Sofianidis | LB / LM / LW | (1937-08-03)3 August 1937 (aged 31) | 1959 | Beşiktaş | Free | 1969 |
| Aleko Yordan | CB | (1938-01-10)10 January 1938 (aged 31) | 1962 | Beykoz | Free | 1969 |
| Tasos Vasiliou | CB | (1938-08-04)4 August 1938 (aged 30) | 1965 | Apollon Athens | ₯1,500,000 | 1970 |
| Giorgos Kefalidis | RB / CB | (1941-03-21)21 March 1941 (aged 28) | 1964 | Pierikos | Free | 1972 |
| Fotis Balopoulos | CB / DM / CM / ST | (1943-12-17)17 December 1943 (aged 25) | 1964 | Proodeftiki | ₯450,000 | 1970 |
| Lakis Fragoudakis | CB / DM | 1944 (aged 24–25) | 1964 | Free agent | Free | 1970 |
| Giannis Spyropoulos | CB / RB | 1945 (aged 23–24) | 1968 | PAO Patisia | Free | 1970 |
| Christos Antonopoulos | CB / DM | (1946-08-14)14 August 1946 (aged 22) | 1968 | AE Pangrati | ₯120,000 | 1973 |
| Nikos Karapoulitidis | CB / RB | (1948-11-30)30 November 1948 (aged 20) | 1967 | Free agent | Free | 1975 |
| Midfielders ||||||||
| Stelios Skevofilakas | LM / RM / AM | (1939-01-06)6 January 1939 (aged 30) | 1960 | Eleftheroupoli | Free | 1972 |
| Panagiotis Ventouris | AM / SS | (1943-03-01)1 March 1943 (aged 26) | 1965 | Fostiras | ₯435,000 | 1972 |
| Nikos Stathopoulos | LM / LB | (1943-11-08)8 November 1943 (aged 25) | 1965 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1974 |
| Michalis Simigdalas | CM | (1944-06-23)23 June 1944 (aged 25) | 1963 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1969 |
| Minas Stavridis | AM / SS / ST | 1945 (aged 23–24) | 1968 | Ionikos | Free | 1970 |
| Giorgos Karafeskos | CM / DM / RM / RW | (1946-12-08)8 December 1946 (aged 22) | 1963 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1974 |
| Giorgos Lavaridis | CM / DM | (1947-10-15)15 October 1947 (aged 21) | 1968 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1975 |
| Forwards ||||||||
| Andreas Stamatiadis (Captain) | RW / LW / SS / ST | (1935-08-16)16 August 1935 (aged 33) | 1952 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1969 |
| Kostas Papageorgiou | ST | (1941-01-01)1 January 1941 (aged 28) | 1963 | Atromitos | ₯200,000 | 1969 |
| Mimis Papaioannou | SS / ST / AM | (1942-08-23)23 August 1942 (aged 26) | 1962 | Veria | ₯175,000 | 1979 |
| Spyros Pomonis | LW / LM | (1944-02-12)12 February 1944 (aged 25) | 1960 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1973 |
| Kostas Nikolaidis | RW / LW / SS / ST | (1944-09-10)10 September 1944 (aged 24) | 1965 | PAO Safrabolis | Free | 1973 |
| Kostas Sarris | ST | 1949 (aged 19–20) | 1968 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1970 |
| Andreas Karakidis | ST | 1949 (aged 19–20) | 1968 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1973 |
| Dimitris Kyrmizas | ST | 1949 (aged 19–20) | 1968 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1973 |
| Left during season ||||||||
| Nikos Sevastopoulos | RW / SS / AM / ST | (1945-02-26)26 February 1945 (aged 24) | 1963 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1971 |

## Transfers
### In

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Contract Until |
| GK | Vyronas Amelidis | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1968 | 30 June 1973 |
| DF | Giannis Spyropoulos | PAO Patisia | Free transfer | 1 July 1968 | 30 June 1970 |
| DF | Christos Antonopoulos | AE Pangrati | ₯120,000 | 20 July 1968 | 30 June 1973 |
| MF | Giorgos Lavaridis | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1968 | 30 June 1975 |
| MF | Minas Stavridis | Ionikos | Free transfer | 1 July 1968 | 30 June 1970 |
| FW | Nikos Sevastopoulos | Hellenic | Loan return | 1 July 1968 | 30 June 1971 |
| FW | Kostas Sarris | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1968 | 30 June 1970 |
| FW | Andreas Karakidis | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 September 1968 | 30 June 1973 |
| FW | Dimitris Kyrmizas | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1968 | 30 June 1973 |
    a. $^^$ plus Maskaleris, Petrou and Ioannidis from the reserve team as exchange, whike AEK also signed Ioannis Papakonstantis for their reserve team.

### Out

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Source |
| GK | Mimis Maniakis | Panionios | Free transfer | 1 July 1968 | |
| FW | Vasilis Mastrakoulis | Retired | Retired | 1 July 1968 | |

### Loan out

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Until | Option to buy | Source |
| FW | Nikos Sevastopoulos | Hellenic | Free | 1 April 1969 | 30 August 1969 | N | |

### Overall transfer activity

Expenditure: ₯120,000
Income: ₯0
Net Total: ₯120,000

## Competitions
### Overall record

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Alpha Ethniki | 22 September 1968 | 15 June 1969 | Matchday 1 | 6th | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 58 | 33 | +25 | 050.00 |
| Greek Cup | 14 May 1969 | 11 June 1969 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 050.00 |
| European Cup | 18 September 1968 | 12 March 1969 | First round | Quarter-finals | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 033.33 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 42 | 20 | 9 | 13 | 74 | 43 | +31 | 047.62 |
Last updated: 15 June 1969 Source: Competitions

### Alpha Ethniki
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 4 | Panionios | 34 | 18 | 7 | 9 | 55 | 34 | +21 | 77 | Invitation for Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round |
| 5 | PAOK | 34 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 58 | 37 | +21 | 76 | |
| 6 | AEK Athens | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 58 | 33 | +25 | 74 | |
| 7 | Egaleo | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 48 | 41 | +7 | 70 | |
| 8 | Ethnikos Piraeus | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 43 | 45 | −2 | 68 | |
* ↑ AEK Athens were deducted 1 point.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
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 | A | H | A | H | Η | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | D | L | D | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | D | L | D | W | L | L | L | W | L | W | L | L | W | L |
| Position | 7 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 |

#### Fixtures
### Greek Cup

AEK entered the Greek Cup at the round of 32.

#### Matches
### European Cup
#### Quarter-finals
## Statistics
### Squad statistics

    As of 15 June 1969
| No. | Pos | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Greek Cup | European Cup | European Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||
| — | GK | Stelios Serafidis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| — | GK | Theodoros Maniateas | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| — | GK | Stelios Konstantinidis | 29 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| — | GK | Vyronas Amelidis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders |||||||||||
| — | DF | Alekos Sofianidis | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| — | DF | Aleko Yordan | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| — | DF | Tasos Vasiliou | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
| — | DF | Giorgos Kefalidis | 33 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 39 | 1 |
| — | DF | Fotis Balopoulos | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
| — | DF | Lakis Fragoudakis | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| — | DF | Giannis Spyropoulos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| — | DF | Christos Antonopoulos | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| — | DF | Nikos Karapoulitidis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Midfielders |||||||||||
| — | MF | Stelios Skevofilakas | 32 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 40 | 4 |
| — | MF | Panagiotis Ventouris | 19 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 26 | 8 |
| — | MF | Nikos Stathopoulos | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 37 | 0 |
| — | MF | Michalis Simigdalas | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| — | MF | Minas Stavridis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| — | MF | Giorgos Karafeskos | 32 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 40 | 6 |
| — | MF | Giorgos Lavaridis | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| Forwards |||||||||||
| — | FW | Andreas Stamatiadis | 23 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 28 | 3 |
| — | FW | Kostas Papageorgiou | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 3 |
| — | FW | Mimis Papaioannou | 33 | 20 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 41 | 27 |
| — | FW | Spyros Pomonis | 24 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 5 |
| — | FW | Kostas Nikolaidis | 29 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 34 | 10 |
| — | FW | Kostas Sarris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — | FW | Andreas Karakidis | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| — | FW | Dimitris Kyrmizas | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Left during season |||||||||||
| — | FW | Nikos Sevastopoulos | 19 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 24 | 5 |

### Goalscorers

    As of 15 June 1969
| Rank | Pos. | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | European Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | Mimis Papaioannou | 20 | 4 | 3 | 27 |
| 2 | FW | Kostas Nikolaidis | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 3 | MF | Panagiotis Ventouris | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 4 | MF | Giorgos Karafeskos | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 5 | FW | Spyros Pomonis | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | FW | Nikos Sevastopoulos | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 7 | MF | Stelios Skevofilakas | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | FW | Andreas Stamatiadis | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | FW | Kostas Papageorgiou | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 | DF | Giorgos Kefalidis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | Giorgos Lavaridis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | Michalis Simigdalas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | 58 | 7 | 9 | 74 |

### Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.
| Player | Against | 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.
    As of 15 June 1969
| Rank | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | European Cup | Total |
| 1 | Stelios Konstantinidis | 10 | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| 2 | Theodoros Maniateas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | Stelios Serafidis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | Totals | 10 | 1 | 3 | 14 |

### Disciplinary record

    As of 15 June 1969
| N | P | Name | Alpha Ethniki | Total |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||||||||
| — | GK | Stelios Serafidis | 1 | 1 |
| — | GK | Theodoros Maniateas | | |
| — | GK | Stelios Konstantinidis | | |
| — | GK | Vyronas Amelidis | | |
| Defenders |||||||||||||||||
| — | DF | Alekos Sofianidis | | |
| — | DF | Aleko Yordan | | |
| — | DF | Tasos Vasiliou | 1 | 1 |
| — | DF | Giorgos Kefalidis | | |
| — | DF | Fotis Balopoulos | | |
| — | DF | Lakis Fragoudakis | | |
| — | DF | Giannis Spyropoulos | | |
| — | DF | Christos Antonopoulos | | |
| — | DF | Nikos Karapoulitidis | | |
| Midfielders |||||||||||||||||
| — | MF | Stelios Skevofilakas | | |
| — | MF | Panagiotis Ventouris | | |
| — | MF | Nikos Stathopoulos | | |
| — | MF | Michalis Simigdalas | | |
| — | MF | Minas Stavridis | | |
| — | MF | Giorgos Karafeskos | | |
| — | MF | Giorgos Lavaridis | | |
| Forwards |||||||||||||||||
| — | FW | Andreas Stamatiadis | | |
| — | FW | Kostas Papageorgiou | | |
| — | FW | Mimis Papaioannou | | |
| — | FW | Spyros Pomonis | | |
| — | FW | Kostas Nikolaidis | | |
| — | FW | Kostas Sarris | | |
| — | FW | Andreas Karakidis | | |
| — | FW | Dimitris Kyrmizas | | |
| Left during season |||||||||||||||||
| — | FW | Nikos Sevastopoulos | | |