# 1996 Greek Football Cup final

The 1996 Greek Cup final was the 52nd final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 15 May 1996 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Apollon Athens and AEK Athens. It was Apollon Athens' first-ever Greek Cup final in their 105 years of existence and AEK Athens' fourtheenth Greek Cup final and third consecutive in their 72-year history. Demis Nikolaidis played his last match as footballer of Apollon Athens, a few days before his transfer to AEK Athens. With their 7–1 win over Apollon Athens, AEK Athens achieved a record victory in the history of the Greek Cup finals. Furthermore, it was his only Cup title, as well as his last trophy won by Dušan Bajević as the coach of AEK Athens.

## Venue

This was the twelfth Greek Cup final held at the Athens Olympic Stadium, after the 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994 and 1995 finals.
The Athens Olympic Stadium was built in 1982. The stadium is used as a venue for Panathinaikos and Greece and was used for Olympiacos and AEK Athens in various occasions. Its current capacity is 80,000 and hosted two European Cup/UEFA Champions League finals in 1983 and 1994, a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in 1987 and the 1991 Mediterranean Games.

## Background

Apollon Athens had never competed in a Cup final.
AEK Athens had reached the Greek Cup final thirteen times, winning eight of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 1983 (2–0 against PAOK). The last time that had played in a final was in 1995, where they had lost to Panathinaikos by 1–0 after the extra time.
The two teams had never met each other in a Cup final.

## Route to the final

| Apollon Athens | Apollon Athens | Apollon Athens | Apollon Athens | Round | AEK Athens | AEK Athens | AEK Athens | AEK Athens |
| Opponent | Result | Result | Result | Group stage | Opponent | Result | Result | Result |
| Panelfsiniakos | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Matchday 1 | Almopos Aridea | 6–2 (H) | 6–2 (H) | 6–2 (H) |
| Atromitos | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Matchday 2 | Olympiacos Volos | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (A) |
| Kalamata | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Matchday 3 | Panegialios | 4–1 (H) | 4–1 (H) | 4–1 (H) |
| Ambelokipoi Thessaloniki | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Matchday 4 | Panathinaikos | 1–3 (A) | 1–3 (A) | 1–3 (A) |
| Group 3 winners Team Pts Apollon Athens 12 Panelfsiniakos 5 Atromitos 4 Kalamata 4 Ambelokipoi Thessaloniki 2 | Group 3 winners Team Pts Apollon Athens 12 Panelfsiniakos 5 Atromitos 4 Kalamata 4 Ambelokipoi Thessaloniki 2 | Group 3 winners Team Pts Apollon Athens 12 Panelfsiniakos 5 Atromitos 4 Kalamata 4 Ambelokipoi Thessaloniki 2 | Group 3 winners Team Pts Apollon Athens 12 Panelfsiniakos 5 Atromitos 4 Kalamata 4 Ambelokipoi Thessaloniki 2 | Final standings | Group 1 runners-up Team Pts Panathinaikos 12 AEK Athens 9 Panegialios 6 Olympiacos Volos 1 Almopos Aridea 1 | Group 1 runners-up Team Pts Panathinaikos 12 AEK Athens 9 Panegialios 6 Olympiacos Volos 1 Almopos Aridea 1 | Group 1 runners-up Team Pts Panathinaikos 12 AEK Athens 9 Panegialios 6 Olympiacos Volos 1 Almopos Aridea 1 | Group 1 runners-up Team Pts Panathinaikos 12 AEK Athens 9 Panegialios 6 Olympiacos Volos 1 Almopos Aridea 1 |
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Knockout phase | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Paniliakos | 5–4 | 2–1 (H) | 3–3 (A) | Round of 32 | Iraklis | 3–0 | 1–0 (H) | 2–0 (A) |
| Panetolikos | 4–3 | 2–1 (A) | 2–2 (H) | Round of 16 | Olympiacos | 4–1 | 3–1 (A) | 1–1 (H) |
| Skoda Xanthi | 5–2 | 4–0 (H) | 1–2 (A) | Quarter-finals | Panathinaikos | 5–4 | 3–1 (H) | 2–2 (A) |
| PAOK | 4–2 | 1–1 (H) | 3–1 (A) | Semi-finals | Athinaikos | 6–0 | 5–0 (H) | 1–0 (A) |

## Match
### Details

| Apollon Athens | ΑΕΚ Athens |
| GK | 1 | Dimitris Raptis |
| RB | 7 | Predrag Erak | 25' |
| CB | 3 | Kostas Mavridis | | 55' |
| CB | 4 | Andreas Theodoropoulos | | 35' |
| LB | 5 | Giannis Apostolou | | 46' |
| DM | 2 | Kostas Ioannou |
| CM | 10 | Bledar Kola |
| RM | 6 | Giannis Tatsis |
| LM | 8 | Lefteris Velentzas (c) |
| CF | 9 | Bernard Barnjak |
| CF | 11 | Demis Nikolaidis |
| Substitutes: ||
| DF | 12 | Panagiotis Lachanas | | 55' |
| DF | 13 | Vangelis Kefalas | 76' | 46' |
| MF | 14 | Theodoros Alexis | | 35' |
| Manager: ||
| Giannis Pathiakakis ||
| GK | 1 | Ilias Atmatsidis |
| CB | 3 | Nikos Kostenoglou |
| CB | 4 | Stelios Manolas (c) | 29' |
| CB | 6 | Michalis Vlachos | 1' | 66' |
| DM | 5 | Refik Šabanadžović |
| CM | 8 | Toni Savevski |
| RM | 2 | Vasilios Borbokis | 8' | 66' |
| AM | 10 | Vasilios Tsiartas | | 82' |
| LM | 11 | Michalis Kasapis | 2' |
| SS | 7 | Temur Ketsbaia |
| CF | 9 | Daniel Batista | 52' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 15 | Vasilis Karagiannis | |
| DF | 13 | Vaios Karagiannis | | 82' |
| DF | 16 | Charis Kopitsis | |
| MF | 14 | Christos Maladenis | | 66' |
| FW | 12 | Christos Kostis | | 66' |
| Manager: ||
| Dušan Bajević ||
| Assistant referees: Antonis Togias (Piraeus) Nikos Vergis (Thessaloniki) Fourth official: Malamas Tevekelis (Thessaloniki) | Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Five named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions |