# 1979 Greek Football Cup final

The 1979 Greek Cup final was the 35th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 9 June 1979 at Karaiskakis Stadium. The contesting teams were Panionios and AEK Athens. It was Panionios' fourth Greek Cup final in their 89 years of existence and AEK Athens' eleventh Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 55-year history. Panionios with a 3–1 comeback, defeated the champions of that year, AEK Athens, claiming their first Cup and completed one of the biggest surprises in the history of the institution.

## Venue

This was the eleventh Greek Cup final held at Karaiskakis Stadium, after the 1957, 1958, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1978 finals. (Karaiskakis also hosted the replay match of the 1960 final between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos).
Karaiskakis Stadium was built in 1895 and renovated once in 1964. The stadium is used as a venue for Olympiacos and Ethnikos Piraeus and was used for Greece in various occasions. Its current capacity is 42,000 and hosted a European 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 three times. The last time that they played in a final was in 1967, where they had lost to Panathinaikos by 1–0.
AEK Athens had reached the Greek Cup final ten times, winning six of them. The last time that they played in a final was in 1978, where they had won PAOK by 2–0.
The two teams had never met each other in a Cup final.

## Route to the final

| Panionios | Panionios | Panionios | Panionios | Round | AEK Athens | AEK Athens | AEK Athens | AEK Athens |
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Olympiakos Loutraki | 3–1 (H) | 3–1 (H) | 3–1 (H) | First round | Kavala | 5–2 (H) | 5–2 (H) | 5–2 (H) |
| Edessaikos | 3–2 (a.e.t.) (H) | 3–2 (a.e.t.) (H) | 3–2 (a.e.t.) (H) | Second round | Proodeftiki | 4–0 (H) | 4–0 (H) | 4–0 (H) |
| Almopos Aridea | 1–0 (H) | 1–0 (H) | 1–0 (H) | Round of 16 | Acharnaikos | 4–0 (H) | 4–0 (H) | 4–0 (H) |
| Aris | 7–6 | 2–5 (A) | 5–1 (H) | Quarter-finals | Anagennisi Epanomi | 3–1 | 1–1 (A) | 2–0 (H) |
| Olympiacos | 4–4 (a) | 2–1 (H) | 3–2 (A) | Semi-finals | Panachaiki | 7–4 | 2–3 (A) | 5–1 (H) |

## Match
### Details

| Panionios | AEK Athens |
| GK | | Zafeiris Kakkaris |
| DF | | Serafim Zacharopoulos |
| DF | | Giannis Gravanis |
| DF | | Nikos Chalkidis |
| MF | | Christos Emvoliadis |
| MF | | Charampos Saipas | | 46' |
| MF | | Noni Lima |
| FW | | Dimitris Mavrikis (c) | 62' |
| FW | | Nikos Anastopoulos |
| FW | 10 | Giannis Pathiakakis |
| FW | | Vasilis Vallidis |
| Substitute: ||
| MF | | Vasilis Moraitelis | | 46' |
| Manager: ||
| Panos Markovic ||
| GK | 1 | Lakis Stergioudas |
| DF | 2 | Giannis Mousouris |
| DF | 4 | Petros Ravousis |
| DF | 5 | Lakis Nikolaou (c) | 50' |
| DF | 3 | Christos Ardizoglou | | 46' |
| MF | 6 | Dionysis Tsamis |
| MF | 8 | Takis Nikoloudis |
| MF | 10 | Mimis Domazos |
| FW | 7 | Tasos Konstantinou | 72' |
| FW | 9 | Dušan Bajević |
| FW | 11 | Thomas Mavros |
| Substitute: ||
| DF | 13 | Theodoros Apostolopoulos | | 46' |
| Manager: ||
| Andreas Stamatiadis ||
| Assistant referees: Nikos Zlatanos (Thessaloniki) Giannis Latsios (Larissa) | Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Five named substitutes Maximum of two substitutions |