# 1979–80 AEK Athens F.C. season

The 1979–80 season was the 56th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 21st consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup and the European Cup. The season began on 19 September 1979 and finished on 24 May 1980.

## Kits

Supplier: Adidas
| Home | Away |

## Overview

The enactment of law 879/79 from March 1979 led Greek football to full professionalism and men of a large financial surface stepped on the surface. The Vardinogiannis family took over the wheel of Panathinaikos, with Yiorgos Vardinogiannis as president and a group of shipowners led by Stavros Daifas took over the ownership Olympiacos. On July 30, AEK Athens was also converted into a S.A. under the leadership of Loukas Barlos. Barlos realizing that it was impossible to compete financially with his rivals of and having an aversion to the professionalization of sports, he was preparing the ground for his departure. His last great offer to AEK and the Greek football, was the construction of the first two-story podium in a Greek stadium on October 7, when in Nea Filadelfeia the much-loved "Skepasti" (The Covered) was inaugurated. Transferwise, AEK was mostly staffed by the first talents that emerged from their famous academies managed by František Fadrhonc. The position of a foreigner which was vacated by the departure of Milton Viera, was covered by Franjo Vladić, Dušan Bajević's alter ego for many years at Velež Mostar. Barlos played his "last card" and brought to the bench of AEK the Austrian champion with Austria Wien, Hermann Stessl.
Τhe draw brought AEK against the Romanian Argeș Pitești for the first round of the European Cup. That caused feelings of euphoria in the team and the fans of AEK as the triumph against Porto at the last season's first round was still fresh. At the Stadionul 1 Mai, AEK were left with ten players due to the dismissal of Damianidis from the 52nd minute and the Romanians got the victory and a relative safe score of 3–0. Despite the heavy loss of the first match, the conditions under which this occurred, allowed AEK to be optimistic for the replay match. In Nea Filadelfeia, AEK were tasked for the comeback once again in their history. At the beginning of the game they showed that they were capable of that as they opened the score at the 13th minute, with an own goal by Ivan and after 7 minutes, Vladić doubled their advantage. AEK had more than an hour to score a third goal that would equalize the score of the first match. However, that goal did not take place thanks to the Swiss referee, André Daina, who denied AEK three clear penalties and the possibility of the qualification to the next round. The anger of the AEK players and staff overflowed and the incidents that followed in the locker room and the referees' room brought the punishment of AEK with a one-year ban from the European competitions by UEFA.
AEK started the championship quietly and was left behind in the standings. In the Greek Cup, AEK eliminated Panachaiki at the first round, Panetolikos at the second round, only to be eliminated by PAOK in Thessaloniki, at the round of 16. The introduction of the winter transfer period brought by the professionalism of football contributed to the weakening of the roster, as Mimis Domazos left for Panathinaikos, Takis Nikoloudis for Olympiacos and Dionysis Tsamis for Korinthos. AEK recovered in a great deal afterwards, but a series of unfortunate results brought the dismissal of Stessl in April and the veteran AEK player Miltos Papapostolou on the bench with the help of Fadrhonc. The team returned to the successful results and assisted significantly by the 25 goals of Bajević who emerged as the league's top scorer, finished tied with Panathinaikos in the third place, two points behind the equal in the first place Olympiacos and Aris. This tie led to play-off matches for both the first place for the championship and the third place for a ticket to the UEFA Cup.
The play-off match between AEK and Panathinaikos was from all sides a very strange match. AEK had already been punished with exclusion from the European Cups by UEFA, which meant that whatever the result of the game, Panathinaikos would play in the UEFA Cup. If AEK won, they would simply had the benefit of serving their sentence immediately. The people of Panathinaikos implied that they did not want the match to take place. Barlos, showing a high sense of honor and having in mind the incident of Olympiacos not showing up in the last season's play-off match against AEK, demanded the match to be held, regardless of any risk for his team. On May 24 at Karaiskaki Stadium, the crowd witnessed the honesty that defined Barlos' team, regardless of their eventual 1–0 loss, which marked the beginning of the club's absence from the UEFA competitions.

## Management team

| Position | Staff |
| Manager | Miltos Papapostolou |
| Assistant manager | František Fadrhonc |
| Goalkeeping coach | Stelios Serafidis |
| 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 24 May 1980, 23:59 UTC+3.
| Player | Position(s) | Date of birth (Age) | Signed | Previous club | Transfer fee | Contract until |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||
| Nikos Christidis | GK | (1944-08-02)2 August 1944 (aged 35) | 1976 | Aris | Free | 1982 |
| Lakis Stergioudas | GK | (1952-12-11)11 December 1952 (aged 27) | 1972 | Niki Poligyrou | Free | 1985 |
| Spyros Ikonomopoulos | GK | (1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 20) | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Defenders ||||||||
| Dimitris Argyros | CB / LB | (1948-12-06)6 December 1948 (aged 31) | 1979 | Kastoria | ₯7,000,000 | 1982 |
| Lakis Nikolaou (Captain) | CB / RB / ST / DM | (1949-07-17)17 July 1949 (aged 30) | 1971 | Atromitos | ₯600,000 | 1980 |
| Babis Intzoglou | RB / LB / CB | (1949-04-01)1 April 1949 (aged 31) | 1976 | Panionios | Free | 1980 |
| Giannis Mousouris | RB / RM / ST | (1951-01-26)26 January 1951 (aged 29) | 1977 | AEL | ₯3,000,000 | 1982 |
| Giorgos Kalogeropoulos | RB | (1954-09-14)14 September 1954 (aged 25) | 1979 | Panionios | Free | 1981 |
| Petros Ravousis | CB / RB | (1954-10-01)1 October 1954 (aged 25) | 1972 | Aetos Skydra | Free | 1985 |
| Vangelis Paraprastanitis | LB / CB / DM | (1955-02-10)10 February 1955 (aged 25) | 1979 | Trikala | Free | 1985 |
| Aris Damianidis | CB / RB | (1955-03-02)2 March 1955 (aged 25) | 1977 | Egaleo | Free | 1980 |
| Dimitris Kotsos | LB | (1955-03-30)30 March 1955 (aged 25) | 1978 | Kastoria | Free | 1980 |
| Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | RB / LB | (1957-09-04)4 September 1957 (aged 22) | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1986 |
| Stelios Manolas | RB / CB | (1961-07-13)13 July 1961 (aged 18) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Lysandros Georgamlis | RB / CB / DM / LB | (1962-02-25)25 February 1962 (aged 18) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1985 |
| Midfielders ||||||||
| Franjo Vladić | AM / SS | (1950-10-19)19 October 1950 (aged 29) | 1979 | Velež Mostar | Free | 1981 |
| Christos Ardizoglou | RM / LM / RW / LW / AM / LB | (1953-03-25)25 March 1953 (aged 27) | 1974 | Apollon Athens | ₯5,000,000 | 1982 |
| Stelios Kaselakis | RM / RB / CM | 1954 (aged 25–26) | 1979 | Agioi Anargyroi | ₯2,500,000 | 1982 |
| Spyros Thodis | CM / AM / DM | (1955-07-23)23 July 1955 (aged 24) | 1979 | Anagennisi Karditsa | Free | 1984 |
| Christos Kalaitzidis | LM | (1959-02-06)6 February 1959 (aged 21) | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1981 |
| Vangelis Vlachos | AM / CM | (1962-01-06)6 January 1962 (aged 18) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Forwards ||||||||
| Dušan Bajević | ST / SS | (1948-12-10)10 December 1948 (aged 31) | 1977 | Velež Mostar | Free | 1980 |
| Tasos Konstantinou | RW / SS / ST / RM / AM | (1951-03-11)11 March 1951 (aged 29) | 1972 | EPA Larnaca | Free | 1980 |
| Thomas Mavros | ST / LW | (1954-05-31)31 May 1954 (aged 26) | 1976 | Panionios | ₯4,000,000 | 1980 |
| Panikos Hatziloizou | ST / AM | (1959-09-30)30 September 1959 (aged 20) | 1979 | Aris Limassol | ₯3,000,000 | 1980 |
| Stefanos Zografos | ST | (1960-04-28)28 April 1960 (aged 20) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1980 |
| Giorgos Chatziioannidis | ST | (1960-11-30)30 November 1960 (aged 19) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window ||||||||
| Mimis Domazos | AM / SS | (1942-01-22)22 January 1942 (aged 38) | 1978 | Panathinaikos | Free | 1980 |
| Dionysis Tsamis | CM / DM / AM | (1951-05-21)21 May 1951 (aged 29) | 1972 | Panetolikos | ₯2,300,000 | 1980 |
| Takis Nikoloudis | CM / AM / RM / LM | (1951-08-26)26 August 1951 (aged 28) | 1977 | Iraklis | Free | 1981 |

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

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Contract Until |
| DF | Dimitris Argyros | Kastoria | ₯7,000,000 | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1982 |
| DF | Stelios Manolas | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1979 | 30 November 1984 |
| DF | Lysandros Georgamlis | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1979 | 31 December 1985 |
| MF | Spyros Thodis | Anagennisi Karditsa | Free transfer | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1984 |
| ΜF | Stelios Kaselakis | Agioi Anargyroi | ₯2,500,000 | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1982 |
| MF | Franjo Vladić | Velež Mostar | Free transfer | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1981 |
| MF | Vangelis Vlachos | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1984 |
| FW | Panikos Hatziloizou | Aris Limassol | ₯3,000,000 | 16 August 1979 | 30 June 1980 |
| FW | Stefanos Zografos | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1980 |
| FW | Giorgos Chatziioannidis | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1979 | 30 November 1984 |
| FW | Thomas Stafylas | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1982 |

#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Contract Until | Source |
| DF | Giorgos Kalogeropoulos | Panionios | Free transfer | 1 December 1979 | 30 June 1981 | |
| DF | Vangelis Paraprastanitis | Trikala | ₯4,000,000 | 1 December 1979 | 30 June 1985 | |

### Out
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date |
| DF | Apostolos Toskas | Atromitos | End of contract | 2 August 1979 |
| DF | Theodoros Apostolopoulos | Apollon Athens | Free transfer | 1 July 1979 |
| ΜF | Milton Viera | Retired | Retired | 1 July 1979 |
| ΜF | Lazaros Papadopoulos | Rodos | End of contract | 1 July 1979 |
| ΜF | Dimitris Kokkinopoulos | Acharnaikos | Contract termniation | 1 July 1979 |
| FW | Mimis Papaioannou | New York Pancyprian | End of contract | 1 July 1979 |

#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date |
| MF | Dionysis Tsamis | Korinthos | End of contract | 31 December 1979 |
| MF | Takis Nikoloudis | Olympiacos | Free transfer | 31 December 1979 |
| MF | Mimis Domazos | Panathinaikos | Free transfer | 1 January 1980 |

### Loan out
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Until | Option to buy | Source |
| DF | Stavros Letsas | Panelefsiniakos | Free | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1980 | N | |
| FW | Thomas Stafylas | Acharnaikos | Free | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1980 | N | |

### Contract renewals

| Pos. | Player | Date | Former Exp. Date | New Exp. Date | Source |
| DF | Lakis Nikolaou | 1 July 1979 | 1 December 1979 | 30 June 1980 | |

### 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 | 30 September 1979 | 18 May 1980 | Matchday 1 | 4th | 34 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 64 | 39 | +25 | 052.94 |
| 3rd place play-off | 24 May 1980 | 24 May 1980 | Final | Runners-up | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 000.00 |
| Greek Cup | 21 November 1979 | 20 February 1980 | First round | Round of 16 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 066.67 |
| European Cup | 19 September 1979 | 8 October 1980 | First round | First round | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 40 | 21 | 9 | 10 | 75 | 48 | +27 | 052.50 |
Last updated: 24 May 1980 Source: Competitions

### Alpha Ethniki
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Aris | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 46 | 20 | +26 | 47 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Panathinaikos | 34 | 15 | 15 | 4 | 38 | 24 | +14 | 45 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | AEK Athens | 34 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 64 | 39 | +25 | 45 | |
| 5 | PAOK | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 53 | 33 | +20 | 41 | |
| 6 | PAS Giannina | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 50 | 44 | +6 | 37 | |
* ↑ Championship play-off: Olympiacos–Aris 2–0
* 1 2 3rd-place play-off: Panathinaikos–AEK Athens 1–0

#### 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 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | W | L | L | D | W | L | W | W | W | W | D | L | W | D | W | L | W | W | L | W | W | D | D | W | D | D | L | W | D | W | D | W | W | W |
| Position | 3 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |

#### 3rd-place play-off
### Greek Cup
#### Matches
### European Cup
#### First round
## Statistics
### Squad statistics

    As of 24 May 1980
| No. | Pos | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Greek Cup | European Cup | European Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||
| — | GK | Nikos Christidis | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| — | GK | Lakis Stergioudas | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| — | GK | Spyros Ikonomopoulos | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Defenders |||||||||||
| — | DF | Dimitris Argyros | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| — | DF | Lakis Nikolaou | 22 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 3 |
| — | DF | Babis Intzoglou | 22 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 1 |
| — | DF | Giannis Mousouris | 35 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 1 |
| — | DF | Giorgos Kalogeropoulos | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| — | DF | Petros Ravousis | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 0 |
| — | DF | Vangelis Paraprastanitis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — | DF | Aris Damianidis | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| — | DF | Dimitris Kotsos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — | DF | Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| — | DF | Stelios Manolas | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| — | DF | Lysandros Georgamlis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midfielders |||||||||||
| — | MF | Franjo Vladić | 28 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 33 | 4 |
| — | MF | Christos Ardizoglou | 29 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 7 |
| — | MF | Stelios Kaselakis | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| — | MF | Spyros Thodis | 32 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 1 |
| — | MF | Christos Kalaitzidis | 12 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 1 |
| — | MF | Vangelis Vlachos | 28 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 3 |
| Forwards |||||||||||
| — | FW | Dušan Bajević | 32 | 25 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 27 |
| — | FW | Tasos Konstantinou | 23 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 3 |
| — | FW | Thomas Mavros | 28 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 19 |
| — | FW | Panikos Hatziloizou | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| — | FW | Stefanos Zografos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — | FW | Giorgos Chatziioannidis | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window |||||||||||
| — | MF | Mimis Domazos | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| — | MF | Dionysis Tsamis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| — | MF | Takis Nikoloudis | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 |

### Goalscorers

    As of 24 May 1980
| Rank | Pos. | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | European Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | Dušan Bajević | 25 | 2 | 0 | 27 |
| 2 | FW | Thomas Mavros | 14 | 5 | 0 | 19 |
| 3 | MF | Christos Ardizoglou | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 4 | MF | Franjo Vladić | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | DF | Lakis Nikolaou | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | MF | Vangelis Vlachos | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | FW | Tasos Konstantinou | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | FW | Giorgos Chatziioannidis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | DF | Babis Intzoglou | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | DF | Giannis Mousouris | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | MF | Takis Nikoloudis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | MF | Spyros Thodis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | ΜF | Christos Kalaitzidis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | 63 | 9 | 2 | 74 |

### Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.
| Player | Against | Result | Date | Competition |
| Dušan Bajević | Kastoria | 4–2 (H) | 4 November 1979 | Alpha Ethniki |
| Thomas Mavros | Panachaiki | 4–3 (Α) | 21 November 1979 | Greek Cup |
| Dušan Bajević | Panachaiki | 3–1 (Α) | 2 December 1979 | Alpha Ethniki |
| Dušan Bajević | Kavala | 4–2 (H) | 20 April 1980 | 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 24 May 1980
| Rank | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | European Cup | Total |
| 1 | Lakis Stergioudas | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | Spyros Ikonomopoulos | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Nikos Christidis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | 9 | 0 | 1 | 10 |

### Disciplinary record

    As of 24 May 1980 N P Nat. Name Alpha Ethniki Greek Cup European Cup Total Notes Goalkeepers — GK Nikos Christidis — GK Lakis Stergioudas 1 1 — GK Spyros Ikonomopoulos Defenders — DF Dimitris Argyros — DF Lakis Nikolaou 3 3 — DF Babis Intzoglou 5 1 2 7 1 — DF Giannis Mousouris — DF Giorgos Kalogeropoulos 1 1 — DF Petros Ravousis 2 1 3 — DF Vangelis Paraprastanitis — DF Aris Damianidis 3 1 1 4 1 — DF Dimitris Kotsos — DF Panagiotis Stylianopoulos — DF Stelios Manolas — DF Lysandros Georgamlis Midfielders — MF Franjo Vladić 1 1 — MF Christos Ardizoglou 1 1 1 2 1 — MF Stelios Kaselakis — MF Spyros Thodis 2 2 — MF Christos Kalaitzidis 1 1 — MF Vangelis Vlachos 1 1 Forwards — FW Dušan Bajević — FW Tasos Konstantinou — FW Thomas Mavros 2 2 — FW Panikos Hatziloizou — FW Stefanos Zografos — FW Giorgos Chatziioannidis 1 1 Left during Winter Transfer Window — MF Mimis Domazos — MF Dionysis Tsamis — MF Takis Nikoloudis

## Awards

| Player | Pos. | Award | Source |
| Dušan Bajević | FW | Alpha Ethniki Top Scorer | |