# 1998 Greek Football Cup final

The 1998 Greek Cup final was the 54th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 29 April 1998 at Karaiskakis Stadium. The contesting teams were Panionios and Panathinaikos. It was Panionios' sixth Greek Cup final in their 108 years of existence and Panathinaikos' twenty fourth Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 90-year history. For the first time in the history of the institution, the president of Greece, Konstantinos Stephanopoulos graced the final with his presence (something that he would repeat in the 4 following finals), also awarding the trophy to the captain of Panionios, Leonidas Vokolos, who shortly after signed with his opponent in the final, Panathinaikos.

## Venue

This was the fourteenth Greek Cup final held at Karaiskakis Stadium, after the 1957, 1958, 1960, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1997 finals (Karaiskakis also hosted the replay match of the 1960 final between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos and the second leg of the 1992 two-legged final between PAOK and Olympiacos).
Karaiskakis Stadium was built in 1895 and renovated once in 1964. The stadium is used as a venue for Ethnikos Piraeus and was used for Olympiacos and Greece in various occasions. Its current capacity is 42,000 and hosted a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in 1971 and the first leg of the Intercontinental Cup final in 1971.

## Background

Panionios had reached the Greek Cup final five times, winning one of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 1979 (3–1 against AEK Athens). The last time that had played in a final was in 1989, where they had lost to Panathinaikos by 3–1.
Panathinaikos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty three times, winning fifteen of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 1995 (1–0 against AEK Athens). The last time that had played in a final was in 1997, where they had lost to AEK Athens by 5–3 on penalties, which came after a 0–0 draw at the end of the extra time.
The two teams had met each other in a Cup final two times in the 1967 and 1989 finals.

## Route to the final

| Panionios | Panionios | Panionios | Panionios | Round | Panathinaikos | Panathinaikos | Panathinaikos | Panathinaikos |
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Panelefsiniakos | 4–3 | 1–3 (A) | 3–0 (H) | Round of 32 | Orestis Orestiada | 6–0 | 2–0 (A) | 4–0 (H) |
| Orfeas Alexandroupoli | 1–0 | 0–0 (A) | 1–0 (H) | Round of 16 | Panserraikos | 10–5 | 4–1 (H) | 6–4 (A) |
| Apollon Kalamarias | 6–2 | 4–2 (H) | 2–0 (A) | Quarter-finals | Aris | 3–1 | 1–1 (A) | 2–0 (H) |
| PAOK | 2–1 | 1–0 (H) | 1–1 (A) | Semi-finals | Iraklis | 4–2 | 1–2 (A) | 3–0 (H) |

## Match
### Details

| Panionios | Panathinaikos |
| GK | 12 | Foto Strakosha |
| RB | 21 | Akis Mantzios |
| CB | 5 | Leonidas Vokolos (c) |
| CB | 24 | Vasilios Ioannidis | 52' 72' |
| LB | 20 | Takis Fyssas |
| DM | 10 | Antonis Sapountzis | 77' |
| CM | 6 | Dimitrios Bougas | 13' |
| CM | 8 | Anastasios Katsabis | | 78' |
| RW | 23 | Giannis Kamitsis | 54' 58' |
| LW | 9 | Miodrag Medan | | 66' |
| CF | 17 | Dimitris Nalitzis | | 73' |
| Substitutes: ||
| DF | 4 | Roy Wassberg | | 73' |
| MF | 18 | Kostas Kafalis | | 66' |
| MF | 26 | Theofilos Karasavvidis | | 78' |
| Manager: ||
| Christos Emvoliadis ||
| GK | 1 | Józef Wandzik | 54' |
| RB | 2 | Stratos Apostolakis | | 65' |
| CB | 8 | Giannis Goumas |
| CB | 17 | Georgios S. Georgiadis | 28' 46' |
| CB | 6 | Thanasis Kolitsidakis |
| LB | 23 | Theofilaktos Nikolaidis |
| DM | 12 | Erik Mykland | 42' | 48' |
| CM | 11 | Giorgos Ch. Georgiadis |
| CM | 18 | Kostas Konstantinidis |
| CF | 10 | Alexis Alexoudis | | 54' |
| CF | 9 | Krzysztof Warzycha (c) |
| Substitutes: ||
| MF | 15 | Angelos Basinas | | 48' |
| FW | 13 | Nikos Liberopoulos | | 54' |
| FW | 28 | Igor Sypniewski | | 65' |
| Manager: ||
| Vasilios Daniil ||
| Assistant referees: Kostas Romanos Theodoros Kostidis (Thessaloniki) Fourth official: Spyros Papadakos (Laconia) | Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Five named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions |