# 2000 Greek Football Cup final

The 2000 Greek Cup final was the 56th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 10 May 2000 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were AEK Athens and Ionikos. It was AEK Athens' sixteenth Greek Cup final in their 76 years of existence and Ionikos' first-ever Greek Cup final of their 35-year history. A remarkable moment of the match was at 32nd minute while score was at 0–0, AEK Athens took the lead with Demis Nikolaidis scoring with his hand. The referee did not realize the violation and ran towards the center of the pitch, but the player approached him and told him that he should not count the goal, explaining what exactly had happened. As a result, the goal was canceled and Nikolaidis was shown a yellow card for handball. Nikolaidis was later honored for his fair play by the International Olympic Committee.

## Venue

This was the fourteenth Greek Cup final held at the Athens Olympic Stadium, after the 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1999 finals.
The Athens Olympic Stadium was built in 1982. The stadium is used as a venue for Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and Greece and was used for 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

AEK Athens had reached the Greek Cup final fifteen times, winning nine of them. The last time that played in a final was in 1997, where they had won Panathinaikos by 5–3 on a penalty shootout, which came after a 0–0 draw at the end of the extra time.
Ionikos had never competed in a Cup final.
The two teams had never met each other in a Cup final.

## Route to the final

| AEK Athens | AEK Athens | AEK Athens | AEK Athens | Round | Ionikos | Ionikos | Ionikos | Ionikos |
| Opponent | Result | Result | Result | Group stage | Opponent | Result | Result | Result |
| Egaleo | 6–1 (H) | 6–1 (H) | 6–1 (H) | Matchday 1 | Panetolikos | 3–0 (H) | 3–0 (H) | 3–0 (H) |
| A.O. Karditsa | 6–1 (A) | 6–1 (A) | 6–1 (A) | Matchday 2 | Leonidio | 2–1 (A) | 2–1 (A) | 2–1 (A) |
| Trikala | 2–1 (A) | 2–1 (A) | 2–1 (A) | Matchday 3 | Panathinaikos | 1–0 (A) | 1–0 (A) | 1–0 (A) |
| Athinaikos | 3–0 (H) | 3–0 (H) | 3–0 (H) | Matchday 4 | Ialysos | 6–0 (H) | 6–0 (H) | 6–0 (H) |
| Akratitos | 3–0 (H) | 3–0 (H) | 3–0 (H) | Matchday 5 | Keratsini | 3–2 (H) | 3–2 (H) | 3–2 (H) |
| Group 8 winners Pos Teamvte Pld Pts 1 AEK Athens 5 15 2 Trikala 5 12 3 Egaleo 5 6 4 Athinaikos 5 5 5 Akratitos 5 4 6 A.O.Karditsa 5 1 Source: epo.gr | Group 8 winners Pos Teamvte Pld Pts 1 AEK Athens 5 15 2 Trikala 5 12 3 Egaleo 5 6 4 Athinaikos 5 5 5 Akratitos 5 4 6 A.O.Karditsa 5 1 Source: epo.gr | Group 8 winners Pos Teamvte Pld Pts 1 AEK Athens 5 15 2 Trikala 5 12 3 Egaleo 5 6 4 Athinaikos 5 5 5 Akratitos 5 4 6 A.O.Karditsa 5 1 Source: epo.gr | Group 8 winners Pos Teamvte Pld Pts 1 AEK Athens 5 15 2 Trikala 5 12 3 Egaleo 5 6 4 Athinaikos 5 5 5 Akratitos 5 4 6 A.O.Karditsa 5 1 Source: epo.gr | Final standings | Group 1 runners-up Pos Teamvte Pld Pts 1 Panathinaikos 5 15 2 Ionikos 5 9 3 Leonidio 5 9 4 Panetolikos 5 9 5 Keratsini 5 3 6 Ialysos 5 0 Source: epo.gr | Group 1 runners-up Pos Teamvte Pld Pts 1 Panathinaikos 5 15 2 Ionikos 5 9 3 Leonidio 5 9 4 Panetolikos 5 9 5 Keratsini 5 3 6 Ialysos 5 0 Source: epo.gr | Group 1 runners-up Pos Teamvte Pld Pts 1 Panathinaikos 5 15 2 Ionikos 5 9 3 Leonidio 5 9 4 Panetolikos 5 9 5 Keratsini 5 3 6 Ialysos 5 0 Source: epo.gr | Group 1 runners-up Pos Teamvte Pld Pts 1 Panathinaikos 5 15 2 Ionikos 5 9 3 Leonidio 5 9 4 Panetolikos 5 9 5 Keratsini 5 3 6 Ialysos 5 0 Source: epo.gr |
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Knockout phase | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Additional round | Marko | 4–1 (H) | 4–1 (H) | 4–1 (H) |
| Trikala | 6–0 (H) | 6–0 (H) | 6–0 (H) | Round of 16 | Iraklis | 4–2 (H) | 4–2 (H) | 4–2 (H) |
| Olympiacos | 4–1 | 1–1 (A) | 3–0 (H) | Quarter-finals | Nafpaktiakos Asteras | 9–2 | 8–0 (H) | 1–2 (A) |
| Panionios | 5–3 | 4–1 (H) | 1–2 (A) | Semi-finals | Kalamata | 6–2 | 2–0 (A) | 4–2 (H) |

## Match
### Details

| AEK Athens | Ionikos |
| GK | 1 | Ilias Atmatsidis (c) |
| CB | 2 | Traianos Dellas |
| CB | 32 | Michalis Kapsis |
| CB | 25 | Giannis Kalitzakis | | 85' |
| DM | 14 | Akis Zikos | 25' |
| CM | 28 | Milen Petkov |
| RM | 23 | Vasilis Lakis |
| LM | 17 | Michalis Kasapis |
| AM | 10 | Dragan Ćirić | | 70' |
| SS | 20 | Sotiris Konstantinidis | | 81' |
| CF | 11 | Demis Nikolaidis | 35' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 15 | Chrisostomos Michailidis |
| DF | 12 | Charis Kopitsis |
| DF | 21 | Vaios Karagiannis | | 70' |
| MF | 6 | Dimitris Markos |
| MF | 7 | Christos Maladenis | | 81' |
| MF | 8 | Toni Savevski | | 85' |
| MF | 18 | Evripidis Katsavos |
| Manager: ||
| Giannis Pathiakakis ||
| GK | 15 | Foto Strakosha |
| RB | 3 | Theodoros Pahatouridis | | 70' |
| CB | 2 | Trond Inge Haugland | 11' |
| CB | 5 | Giannis Xanthopoulos (c) | 65' |
| LB | 7 | Georgios Daraklitsas |
| DM | 21 | Dimitris Deligiannis |
| CM | 8 | Mohammad Nasser Afash | 32' |
| CM | 17 | Sokratis Ofrydopoulos | 70' | 75' |
| AM | 10 | Paulinho Kobayashi | 35' | 59' |
| CF | 9 | Craig Brewster |
| CF | 23 | Zizi Roberts |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 32 | Chrysostomos Veniamin |
| DF | 12 | Apostolos Tsoptsis |
| DF | 14 | Giannis Gyrichidis | | 70' |
| MF | 16 | Giorgos Staboulis |
| MF | 20 | Martín Rodríguez |
| MF | 37 | Marcelo Leopaldi | 88' | 75' |
| FW | 29 | Darío Muchotrigo | | 59' |
| Manager: ||
| Oleg Blokhin ||
| Man of the Match: Demis Nikolaidis (AEK Athens) Assistant referees: Dimitris Groutsis (Corinthia) Apostolos Kourkounas (Chania) | Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions |