# 1987–88 AEK Athens F.C. season

The 1987–88 season was the 64th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 29th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki and the Greek Cup. The season began on 6 September 1987 and finished on 15 May 1988.

## Kits

Supplier: Zita Hellas Sponsor(s): Ethniki Asfalistiki
| Home | Away |

## Overview

The final year of the presidency of Andreas Zafiropoulos, finally found AEK Athens at the second place of the league, behind AEL. The season was overshadowed by various non-competitive cases, the "Tsingov case", the "Ballis-Papadopoulos case" and the "Vosdos case". In the summer of 1987, AEK returned to the Nea Filadelfeia Stadium and was called to carry on without the club's legend, Thomas Mavros and as well as Håkan Sandberg. On the other hand, some useful players were acquired such as Savvidis, Nielsen and Vasilakos. Led by Todor Veselinović and with Panathinaikos and Olympiacos out of the title race early on, the team had a good presence and were in the claiming of the championship, but eventually lost it to the strong at that time AEL. The best players of the season for AEK were Manolas, Nielsen, Savvidis, Vasilakos, Janjanin and Patikas. Henrik Nielsen with 21 goals finished the season as the league's top scorer. The greatest victory of the season was the 7–1 at home against Veria.
However, the "Tsingov case" played crucial role in the outcome of the championship. The Bulgarian footballer, Georgi Tsingov of AEL was tested positive in a dropping test after the match against Panathinaikos. The court's decision was as the regulation predicted and punished AEL by zeroing them for that match, 2 points deduction and punishment of the player which brought AEK to the first place of the table. AEL appealed and their fans were revolted by blocking the highway, closing railway lines among other things. Before the appeal was heard the then Minister of Sports, Sifis Valyrakis changed the regulation "overnight", which predicted in cases of doping a footballer, only the footballer would be punished and not the club. So the points were returned back to AEL and finally won the championship. Essentially, AEK was entitled to win the championship on "papers", but AEL was a worthy champion, inside the football pitch and the club's mentality and principles are such that did not allow them to proceed in such actions.
Another scandal of the season was the "Vosdos case". The president of Panachaiki, Aris Loukopoulos, denounced AEK for an attempt to bribe the defender of the team, Leonidas Vosdos, before the match between the two teams at Patras. The footballer himself stated that no one approached him, the judges concluded that the story was an "invention" of Loukopoulos to create a climate of tension in view of the match and the president of Panachaiki was punished.
Noteworthy were also the incidents in the last match of the season at Nea Filadelfeia against Iraklis. The ultras stand had enough with Zafiropoulos, who was considered unable to lift the "weight" of handling the club, but the tension that existed did not justify the following events. Riot police, in an incomprehensible decision, entered the ultras stand and beat whoever stood in front of them which resulted in very heated encounters with the ultras. There were many who believe that Zafiropoulos influenced the police officers to act in this way.
In the cup, AEK after elinating Iraklis in the first round and Kallithea in the round of 32, were drawn against Olympiacos at the round of 16. In the first match at Karaiskakis Stadium, AEK got a significant result with 1–1. On the eve of the rematch, a big scandal broke out as the former AEK footballer, Dinos Ballis visited at the hotel where the team were located with a bouquet for the goalkeeper, Theologis Papadopoulos and created strong suspicions that he was trying to bribe him. The match took place, with Olympiacos winning 1–3 and the story continued in the courts. The Koskotas brothers were accused of trying to bribe Papadopoulos and Vasilakos through Ballis, while many AEK fans believe that AEK was involved in the whole case. Eventually, in a very strange court decision, the only one who was punished for the whole case was Ballis for attempted bribery.

## Management team

| Position | Staff |
| Manager | Todor Veselinović |
| Assistant manager | Giorgos Petridis |
| Goalkeeping coach | Stelios Serafidis |
| Head of Medical | Lakis Nikolaou |
| Physiotherapist | Nikos Pantazis |

## 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 May 1988, 23:59 UTC+3.
| Player | Position(s) | Date of birth (Age) | Signed | Previous club | Transfer fee | Contract until |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||
| Spyros Ikonomopoulos | GK | (1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 28) | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1989 |
| Theologis Papadopoulos | GK | (1960-01-12)12 January 1960 (aged 28) | 1984 | AEL | ₯9,000,000 | 1989 |
| Fanis Kofinas | GK | (1960-09-05)5 September 1960 (aged 27) | 1982 | Pelopas Kiato | Free | 1992 |
| Defenders ||||||||
| Makis Chatzis | RB / LB | (1957-03-30)30 March 1957 (aged 31) | 1984 | Apollon Athens | ₯6,750,000 | 1989 |
| Takis Karagiozopoulos | CB / DM / ST | (1961-02-04)4 February 1961 (aged 27) | 1981 | Veria | Free | 1991 |
| Polyvios Chatzopoulos | CB / DM | (1961-07-17)17 July 1961 (aged 26) | 1985 | Panionios | ₯10,400,000 | 1990 |
| Stelios Manolas (Captain) | CB / RB | (1961-07-13)13 July 1961 (aged 26) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1988 |
| Giorgos Peppes | CB | (1961-10-26)26 October 1961 (aged 26) | 1986 | Ethnikos Piraeus | Free | 1992 |
| Sotiris Mavrodimos | CB / RB / LB / DM | (1962-07-18)18 July 1962 (aged 25) | 1986 | Kozani | ₯5,500,000 | 1991 |
| Christos Vasilopoulos | RB / LB | (1962-11-12)12 November 1962 (aged 25) | 1986 | Panachaiki | ₯8,000,000 | 1991 |
| Georgios Koutoulas | CB / LB | (1967-02-09)9 February 1967 (aged 21) | 1987 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1992 |
| Dimitris Volonakis | LB / CB | (1967-02-27)27 February 1967 (aged 21) | 1987 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1990 |
| Midfielders ||||||||
| Rajko Janjanin | CM | (1957-01-18)18 January 1957 (aged 31) | 1986 | OFI | Free | 1988 |
| Dimitris Pittas | AM / CM | (1958-04-08)8 April 1958 (aged 30) | 1986 | PAOK | Free | 1988 |
| Pavlos Papaioannou (Vice-captain) | DM / RB / LB / RM | (1959-05-19)19 May 1959 (aged 29) | 1983 | Rodos | ₯10,000,000 | 1988 |
| Nikos Pias | CM | (1960-04-07)7 April 1960 (aged 28) | 1984 | Rodos | ₯1,350,000 | 1989 |
| Vasilios Vasilakos | AM | (1960-09-07)7 September 1960 (aged 27) | 1987 | PAOK | ₯10,000,000 | 1990 |
| Giorgos Savvidis | AM / RM / RW / SS / ST | (1961-02-08)8 February 1961 (aged 27) | 1987 | Omonia | ₯20,940,600 | 1992 |
| Lampros Georgiadis | AM / LM / LB | (1963-07-11)11 July 1963 (aged 24) | 1986 | Anagennisi Arta | ₯12,000,000 | 1991 |
| Jim Patikas | RM / LM / RW / LW / SS | (1963-10-18)18 October 1963 (aged 24) | 1985 | Sydney Croatia | ₯5,000,000 | 1988 |
| Forwards ||||||||
| Giannis Dintsikos | ST / SS / RW / LW / AM | (1960-06-25)25 June 1960 (aged 28) | 1981 | Kastoria | ₯20,000,000 | 1991 |
| Henrik Nielsen | ST / SS | (1965-03-29)29 March 1965 (aged 23) | 1987 | B93 | ₯7,000,000 | 1990 |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window ||||||||
| Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | RB / LB | (1957-09-04)4 September 1957 (aged 30) | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1988 |
| Georgios Christodoulou | ST / SS / LW | (1967-05-20)20 May 1967 (aged 21) | 1985 | Akratitos | Free | 1992 |

## Transfers
### In
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Contract Until |
| GK | Fanis Kofinas | Ionikos | Loan return | 1 July 1987 | 30 June 1992 |
| DF | Georgios Koutoulas | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1987 | 30 June 1992 |
| DF | Dimitris Volonakis | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1987 | 30 June 1990 |
| MF | Vasilios Vasilakos | PAOK | ₯10,000,000 | 15 July 1987 | 30 June 1990 |
| MF | Giorgos Savvidis | Omonia | ₯20,940,600 | 14 July 1987 | 30 June 1992 |
| FW | Henrik Nielsen | B93 | ₯7,000,000 | 10 July 1987 | 30 June 1990 |
| FW | Michalis Pytharoulis | Fostiras | Loan return | 1 July 1987 | 30 June 1989 |
| FW | Georgios Christodoulou | Akratitos | Loan return | 1 July 1987 | 30 June 1991 |

#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Contract Until | Source |
| MF | Dimitris Stafylidis | Pannafpliakos | Loan return | 1 December 1987 | 30 June 1988 | |

### Out
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date |
| DF | Stefanos Porfyris | Ionikos | Contract termination | 1 August 1987 |
| DF | Ilias Armodoros | Levadiakos | Contract termination | 8 July 1987 |
| MF | Pavlos Dimitriou | Panserraikos | ₯3,000,000 | 15 July 1987 |
| FW | Thomas Mavros | Panionios | End of contract | 15 July 1987 |
| FW | Håkan Sandberg | Olympiacos | Contract termination | 2 July 1987 |
| FW | Andreas Voitsidis | PAS Giannina | Free transfer | 15 July 1987 |

#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Source |
| DF | Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | Ionikos | Contract termination | 18 December 1987 | |
| MF | Dimitris Stafylidis | Free agent | Contract termination | 16 December 1987 | |

### Loan out
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Until | Option to buy | Source |
| FW | Michalis Pytharoulis | Fostiras | Free | 6 July 1987 | 30 June 1988 | N | |

#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Until | Option to buy | Source |
| FW | Georgios Christodoulou | Acharnaikos | Free | 15 December 1987 | 30 June 1988 | N | |

### Contract renewals

| Pos. | Player | Date | Former Exp. Date | New Exp. Date | Source |
| GK | Fanis Kofinas | 14 July 1987 | 30 June 1987 | 30 June 1992 | |
| FW | Georgios Christodoulou | 29 June 1987 | 30 June 1988 | 30 June 1992 | |

### Overall transfer activity
## 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 | 6 September 1987 | 15 May 1988 | Matchday 1 | 2nd | 30 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 51 | 31 | +20 | 050.00 |
| Greek Cup | 25 October 1987 | 10 February 1988 | First round | Round of 16 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 040.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 35 | 17 | 11 | 7 | 60 | 39 | +21 | 048.57 |
Last updated: 15 May 1988 Source: Competitions

### Alpha Ethniki
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | AEL (C) | 30 | 18 | 7 | 5 | 51 | 22 | +29 | 43 | Qualification for European Cup first round |
| 2 | AEK Athens | 30 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 51 | 31 | +20 | 40 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | PAOK | 30 | 17 | 5 | 8 | 60 | 27 | +33 | 39 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | OFI | 30 | 17 | 3 | 10 | 54 | 41 | +13 | 37 | |
| 5 | Panathinaikos | 30 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 47 | 34 | +13 | 36 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |

#### 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 |
| Ground | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | D | D | W | L | W | L | W | W | D | W | D | W | D | W | D | W | W | L | W | D | W | L | W | D | L | W | D | D | W | W |
| Position | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 |

#### Fixtures
### Greek Cup
#### Matches
##### Round of 16
## Statistics
### Squad statistics

    As of 15 May 1988
| No. | Pos | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Greek Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||
| — | GK | Spyros Ikonomopoulos | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| — | GK | Theologis Papadopoulos | 17 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| — | GK | Fanis Kofinas | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Defenders |||||||||
| — | DF | Makis Chatzis | 16 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| — | DF | Takis Karagiozopoulos | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| — | DF | Polyvios Chatzopoulos | 21 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
| — | DF | Stelios Manolas | 21 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 4 |
| — | DF | Giorgos Peppes | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 33 | 2 |
| — | DF | Sotiris Mavrodimos | 23 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 27 | 1 |
| — | DF | Christos Vasilopoulos | 13 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| — | DF | Georgios Koutoulas | 24 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 4 |
| — | DF | Dimitris Volonakis | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Midfielders |||||||||
| — | MF | Rajko Janjanin | 28 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 1 |
| — | MF | Dimitris Pittas | 14 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 5 |
| — | MF | Pavlos Papaioannou | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| — | MF | Nikos Pias | 16 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| — | MF | Vasilios Vasilakos | 23 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 27 | 5 |
| — | MF | Giorgos Savvidis | 23 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 5 |
| — | MF | Lampros Georgiadis | 19 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 23 | 2 |
| — | MF | Jim Patikas | 15 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 6 |
| Forwards |||||||||
| — | FW | Giannis Dintsikos | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| — | FW | Henrik Nielsen | 27 | 21 | 4 | 2 | 31 | 23 |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window |||||||||
| — | DF | Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| — | FW | Georgios Christodoulou | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |

### Goalscorers

    As of 15 May 1988
| Rank | Pos. | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | Henrik Nielsen | 21 | 2 | 23 |
| 2 | MF | Jim Patikas | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | MF | Giorgos Savvidis | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | MF | Vasilios Vasilakos | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | MF | Dimitris Pittas | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | DF | Georgios Koutoulas | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | DF | Stelios Manolas | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | DF | Giorgos Peppes | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | MF | Lampros Georgiadis | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | DF | Takis Karagiozopoulos | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | DF | Polyvios Chatzopoulos | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | Rajko Janjanin | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | DF | Sotiris Mavrodimos | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | 51 | 9 | 60 |

### Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.
| Player | Against | Result | Date | Competition | Source |
| Henrik Nielsen$^4$ | Veria | 7–1 (H) | 6 December 1987 | 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 15 May 1988
| Rank | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Total |
| 1 | Theologis Papadopoulos | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | Spyros Ikonomopoulos | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Fanis Kofinas | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | Totals | 11 | 1 | 12 |

### Disciplinary record

    As of 15 May 1988
| N | P | Name | Alpha Ethniki | Alpha Ethniki | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Greek Cup | Total | Total | Total |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||||
| — | GK | Spyros Ikonomopoulos | | | | | | | | |
| — | GK | Theologis Papadopoulos | 1 | | | 1 | | 2 | | |
| — | GK | Fanis Kofinas | 1 | | | | | 1 | | |
| Defenders ||||||||||||||
| — | DF | Makis Chatzis | 1 | | 1 | | | 1 | | 1 |
| — | DF | Takis Karagiozopoulos | 3 | | | | | 3 | | |
| — | DF | Polyvios Chatzopoulos | 4 | | | | | 4 | | |
| — | DF | Stelios Manolas | 7 | 1 | | 3 | 1 | 10 | 2 | |
| — | DF | Giorgos Peppes | 4 | | | 1 | | 5 | | |
| — | DF | Sotiris Mavrodimos | 6 | 1 | | | | 6 | 1 | |
| — | DF | Christos Vasilopoulos | 4 | | | | | 4 | | |
| — | DF | Georgios Koutoulas | 3 | | | | | 3 | | |
| — | DF | Dimitris Volonakis | 3 | | | | | 3 | | |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||||
| — | MF | Rajko Janjanin | 1 | | | | | 1 | | |
| — | MF | Dimitris Pittas | 3 | | | | | 3 | | |
| — | MF | Pavlos Papaioannou | 2 | | | | | 2 | | |
| — | MF | Nikos Pias | 3 | 1 | | | | 3 | 1 | |
| — | MF | Vasilios Vasilakos | 4 | | | 1 | | 5 | | |
| — | MF | Giorgos Savvidis | 1 | | | | | 1 | | |
| — | MF | Lampros Georgiadis | 3 | | | 1 | | 4 | | |
| — | MF | Jim Patikas | 1 | | | | | 1 | | |
| Forwards ||||||||||||||
| — | FW | Giannis Dintsikos | | | | | | | | |
| — | FW | Henrik Nielsen | | | | | | | | |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window ||||||||||||||
| — | DF | Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | | | | | | | | |
| — | FW | Georgios Christodoulou | | | | | | | | |

## Awards

| Player | Pos. | Award | Source |
| Henrik Nielsen | FW | Alpha Ethniki Top Scorer | |