# 1980–81 AEK Athens F.C. season

The 1980–81 season was the 57th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 22nd consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup and the Balkans Cup. The season began on 7 September 1980 and finished on 14 June 1981.

## Kits

Supplier: Adidas
| Home | Away |

## Overview

AEK entered the decade, essentially closing one of their most successful historical periods, since this season was the last year of Loukas Barlos at the management of the club. That was the second championship since the establishment of the professional football in Greece. AEK did not compete in any UEFA competitions this year, thus they played in the Balkans Cup instead.
AEK with their veteran player and 1963 champion with the yellow-black jersey, Miltos Papapostolou on the bench started ideally the league achieving a 6 wins in a row. Among others, they beat PAOK away and Olympiacos at home, as a result they were named by many as favorite for the title early on. It was noteworthy that AEK set an all time ticket record at home, after 36,766 tickets were sold in the league game against Panathinaikos. However, the continuation was not proportionate. AEK, although they finished the championship having by far the best attack with 63 goals and Dušan Bajević as their top scorer with 12, were betrayed by their mediocre defensive performance.
The second round of the championship was not good for the team, culminating in the derby with Olympiacos at Karaiskakis Stadium. AEK went down in the match having 2 points less than the first Olympiacos and were looking for the victory that would bring them on the top of the table. Nevertheless, they play a terrible game and a disastrous second half, where they conceded 5 goals in 27 minutes and experienced one of the worst defeats in their history by 6–0. However, the defeat and the match was overshadowed by the tragic events at gate 7 of the stadium, where the fans, trying to leave the field, were trapped and many were trampled, resulting in the death of 21 people and the injury of more than 50 people. At the end of the season AEK finished at the second place five points behind Olympiacos, but were not qualified for any European competition, carrying a ban from the previous season.
In the Cup, AEK eliminated Egaleo in the first round and the title-holder, Kastoria in the second round. Afterwards, they eliminated Panathinaikos at the round of 16 and Aris in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals they were drawn against PAOK and were eliminated with 2 defeats without scoring a single goal.
   "I do not want to take from AEK, I just wanted to give. I am not an investor and I probably do not have a place in modern football. I thank God for the moments he gave me at AEK. This club is the most important thing I've had in my life"
In the Balkans Cup, AEK were placed in the group with Velež Mostar and Flamurtari. Since all three teams finished on par with 2 wins and 2 defeats, Velež Mostar were qualified to the final of the institution, since they had a better goal.
At the end of the season, after seven years of owneship, Barlos left AEK Athens as a result of the dire financial situation that came from his involvement with the club, but also due to his inability to adapt to the new model of professional football, fearing alienation through the professionalism that was entering into the field of football. Moreover, Dušan Bajević, one of the stars of the team, left with him as well.

## Management team

| Position | Staff |
| Manager | Miltos Papapostolou |
| 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 14 June 1981, 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 36) | 1976 | Aris | Free | 1982 |
| Lakis Stergioudas | GK | (1952-12-11)11 December 1952 (aged 28) | 1972 | Niki Poligyrou | Free | 1985 |
| Spyros Ikonomopoulos | GK | (1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 21) | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Defenders ||||||||
| Lakis Nikolaou (Captain) | CB / RB / ST / DM | (1949-07-17)17 July 1949 (aged 31) | 1971 | Atromitos | ₯600,000 | 1982 |
| Giannis Mousouris | RB / RM / ST | (1951-01-26)26 January 1951 (aged 30) | 1977 | AEL | ₯3,000,000 | 1982 |
| Giorgos Rigas | CB / RB / DM | (1953-12-06)6 December 1953 (aged 27) | 1980 | Kavala | Free | 1982 |
| Michalis Tzirakis | CB / RB / RM | (1954-03-06)6 March 1954 (aged 27) | 1980 | OFI | ₯8,000,000 | 1985 |
| Giorgos Kalogeropoulos | RB | (1954-09-14)14 September 1954 (aged 26) | 1979 | Panionios | Free | 1981 |
| Petros Ravousis | CB / RB | (1954-10-01)1 October 1954 (aged 26) | 1972 | Aetos Skydra | Free | 1985 |
| Vangelis Paraprastanitis | LB / CB / DM | (1955-02-10)10 February 1955 (aged 26) | 1979 | Trikala | Free | 1985 |
| Stavros Letsas | RB / RM / CB | (1957-03-06)6 March 1957 (aged 24) | 1978 | Agioi Anargyroi | Free | 1986 |
| Stelios Manolas | RB / CB | (1961-07-13)13 July 1961 (aged 19) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Lysandros Georgamlis | RB / CB / DM / LB | (1962-02-25)25 February 1962 (aged 19) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1985 |
| Midfielders ||||||||
| Kostas Eleftherakis | RM / AM | (1950-07-18)18 July 1950 (aged 30) | 1980 | Panathinaikos | Free | 1981 |
| Franjo Vladić | AM / SS | (1950-10-19)19 October 1950 (aged 30) | 1979 | Velež Mostar | Free | 1981 |
| Petros Karavitis | DM / CM / CB / LB / LM / LW | (1952-03-11)11 March 1952 (aged 29) | 1980 | Olympiacos | Free | 1983 |
| Christos Ardizoglou | RM / LM / RW / LW / AM / LB | (1953-03-25)25 March 1953 (aged 28) | 1974 | Apollon Athens | ₯5,000,000 | 1982 |
| Spyros Thodis | CM / AM / DM | (1955-07-23)23 July 1955 (aged 25) | 1979 | Anagennisi Karditsa | Free | 1984 |
| Vangelis Vlachos | AM / CM | (1962-01-06)6 January 1962 (aged 19) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Forwards ||||||||
| Dimitrios Gesios | ST | (1948-10-24)24 October 1948 (aged 32) | 1980 | Iraklis | Free | 1982 |
| Dušan Bajević | ST / SS | (1948-12-10)10 December 1948 (aged 32) | 1977 | Velež Mostar | Free | 1981 |
| Dimitrios Papadopoulos | ST | (1950-03-01)1 March 1950 (aged 31) | 1980 | OFI | Free | 1982 |
| Thomas Mavros | ST / LW | (1954-05-31)31 May 1954 (aged 27) | 1976 | Panionios | ₯4,000,000 | 1983 |
| Manolis Kottis | ST / LW | (1955-01-25)25 January 1955 (aged 26) | 1980 | Rodos | Free | 1985 |
| Thomas Stafylas | ST | (1958-04-04)4 April 1958 (aged 23) | 1980 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1982 |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window ||||||||
| Tasos Konstantinou | RW / SS / ST / RM / AM | (1951-03-11)11 March 1951 (aged 30) | 1972 | EPA Larnaca | Free | 1981 |
| Giorgos Chatziioannidis | ST | (1960-11-30)30 November 1960 (aged 20) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |

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

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Contract Until |
| DF | Giorgos Rigas | Kavala | Free transfer | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1982 |
| DF | Michalis Tzirakis | OFI | ₯8,000,000 | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1985 |
| DF | Stavros Letsas | Panelefsiniakos | End of loan | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1985 |
| MF | Giorgos Vlantis | Panachaiki | Loan return | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1984 |
| ΜF | Kostas Eleftherakis | Panathinaikos | Free transfer | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1981 |
| FW | Dimitrios Gesios | Iraklis | Free transfer | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1982 |
| FW | Dimitrios Papadopoulos | OFI | Free transfer | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1982 |
| FW | Manolis Kottis | Rodos | Free transfer | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1985 |
| FW | Thomas Stafylas | Acharnaikos | Loan return | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1982 |
    a. $^^$ and Christos Kalaitzidis as an exchange.

#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Contract Until | Source |
| MF | Petros Karavitis | Olympiacos | Free transfer | 17 December 1980 | 30 June 1983 | |

### Out
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date |
| DF | Dimitris Argyros | Kastoria | Free transfer | 1 July 1980 |
| DF | Aris Damianidis | Olympiacos | End of contract | 1 July 1980 |
| DF | Babis Intzoglou | Diagoras | End of contract | 1 July 1980 |
| DF | Dimitris Kotsos | Free agent | End of contract | 1 July 1980 |
| ΜF | Christos Kalaitzidis | Rodos | Free transfer | 1 July 1980 |
| ΜF | Stelios Kaselakis | Agioi Anargyroi | Free transfer | 1 July 1980 |
| FW | Panikos Hatziloizou | Aris Limassol | End of contract | 1 July 1980 |
| FW | Stefanos Zografos | Free agent | End of contract | 1 July 1980 |

#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Source |
| FW | Tasos Konstantinou | Atromitos | End of contract | 1 December 1980 | |

### Loan out
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Until | Option to buy | Source |
| DF | Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | Atromitos | Free | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1981 | N | |
| MF | Giorgos Vlantis | Diagoras | Free | 1 July 1980 | 30 June 1982 | N | |

#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Until | Option to buy | Source |
| FW | Giorgos Chatziioannidis | PAS Giannina | Free | 1 December 1980 | 30 June 1981 | N | |

### Contract renewals

| Pos. | Player | Date | Former Exp. Date | New Exp. Date |
| DF | Lakis Nikolaou | 1 December 1980 | 30 June 1980 | 31 July 1982 |
| FW | Dušan Bajević | 31 July 1980 | 30 June 1980 | 31 July 1981 |
| FW | Thomas Mavros | 13 June 1980 | 31 July 1980 | 31 July 1983 |

### 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 | 7 September 1980 | 14 June 1981 | Matchday 1 | 2nd | 34 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 63 | 42 | +21 | 050.00 |
| Greek Cup | 29 October 1980 | 10 June 1981 | First round | Semi-finals | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 050.00 |
| Balkans Cup | 18 September 1980 | 19 March 1981 | Group stage | Group stage | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | +0 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 84 | 59 | +25 | 050.00 |
Last updated: 14 June 1981 Source: Competitions

### Alpha Ethniki
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Olympiacos (C) | 34 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 47 | 18 | +29 | 49 | Qualification for European Cup first round |
| 2 | AEK Athens | 34 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 63 | 42 | +21 | 44 | |
| 3 | Aris | 34 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 57 | 33 | +24 | 43 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | PAOK | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 52 | 31 | +21 | 42 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 5 | Panathinaikos | 34 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 44 | 21 | +23 | 39 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
* ↑ Since Olympiacos, winners of 1980–81 Greek Football Cup, was qualified for the 1981–82 European Cup, losing cup finalists PAOK earned a spot in the first round of the 1981–82 European Cup Winners' Cup.

#### 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 | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A |
| Result | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | D | L | W | D | D | L | W | D | D | W | L | W | L | W | D | W | W | L | W | L | W | D | W | D | D | W | L |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |

#### Fixtures
### Balkans Cup
#### Group Α

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Qualification | VEL | AEK | FLA |
| 1 | Velež Mostar | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 1.333 | 4 | Advance to Final | — | 2–0 | 4–1 |
| 2 | AEK Athens | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 1.000 | 4 | | 3–1 | — | 3–2 |
| 3 | Flamurtari | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0.778 | 4 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | — |

## Statistics
### Squad statistics

    As of 14 June 1981
| No. | Pos | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Greek Cup | Balkans Cup | Balkans Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||
| — | GK | Nikos Christidis | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| — | GK | Lakis Stergioudas | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| — | GK | Spyros Ikonomopoulos | 26 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
| Defenders |||||||||||
| — | DF | Lakis Nikolaou | 12 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| — | DF | Giannis Mousouris | 13 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 2 |
| — | DF | Giorgos Rigas | 19 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 2 |
| — | DF | Michalis Tzirakis | 22 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 0 |
| — | DF | Giorgos Kalogeropoulos | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| — | DF | Petros Ravousis | 21 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 2 |
| — | DF | Vangelis Paraprastanitis | 32 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 2 |
| — | DF | Stavros Letsas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — | DF | Stelios Manolas | 23 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 1 |
| — | DF | Lysandros Georgamlis | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Midfielders |||||||||||
| — | MF | Kostas Eleftherakis | 23 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 29 | 6 |
| — | MF | Franjo Vladić | 21 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 3 |
| — | MF | Petros Karavitis | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| — | MF | Christos Ardizoglou | 26 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 6 |
| — | MF | Spyros Thodis | 28 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 5 |
| — | MF | Vangelis Vlachos | 29 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 9 |
| Forwards |||||||||||
| — | FW | Dimitrios Gesios | 22 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 8 |
| — | FW | Dušan Bajević | 27 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 15 |
| — | FW | Dimitrios Papadopoulos | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| — | FW | Thomas Mavros | 22 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 15 |
| — | FW | Manolis Kottis | 16 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 6 |
| — | FW | Thomas Stafylas | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 1 |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window |||||||||||
| — | FW | Tasos Konstantinou | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| — | FW | Giorgos Chatziioannidis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

### Goalscorers

    As of 14 June 1981
| Rank | Pos. | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Balkans Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | Dušan Bajević | 12 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| 1 | FW | Thomas Mavros | 9 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| 3 | MF | Vangelis Vlachos | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 4 | FW | Dimitrios Gesios | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 5 | MF | Christos Ardizoglou | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | MF | Kostas Eleftherakis | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 5 | FW | Manolis Kottis | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | MF | Spyros Thodis | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 9 | MF | Franjo Vladić | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | DF | Giannis Mousouris | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | DF | Vangelis Paraprastanitis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | DF | Petros Ravousis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | DF | Giorgos Rigas | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 | DF | Stelios Manolas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | FW | Thomas Stafylas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | 63 | 14 | 7 | 84 |

### Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.
| Player | Against | Result | Date | Competition | Source |
| Thomas Mavros | Velež Mostar | 3–1 (H) | 5 March 1981 | Balkans Cup | |

### 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 14 June 1981
| Rank | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Balkans Cup | Total |
| 1 | Spyros Ikonomopoulos | 8 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| 2 | Lakis Stergioudas | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Nikos Christidis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | 10 | 3 | 0 | 13 |

### Disciplinary record

    As of 14 June 1981 N P Nat. Name Alpha Ethniki Greek Cup Balkans Cup Total Notes Goalkeepers — GK Nikos Christidis — GK Lakis Stergioudas — GK Spyros Ikonomopoulos Defenders — DF Lakis Nikolaou 1 2 3 — DF Giannis Mousouris 1 1 2 — DF Giorgos Rigas 2 2 — DF Michalis Tzirakis 1 2 3 — DF Giorgos Kalogeropoulos 3 3 — DF Petros Ravousis 4 4 — DF Vangelis Paraprastanitis 4 1 5 — DF Stavros Letsas — DF Stelios Manolas 5 1 5 1 — DF Lysandros Georgamlis Midfielders — MF Kostas Eleftherakis 1 1 2 — MF Franjo Vladić 2 1 2 1 — MF Petros Karavitis — MF Christos Ardizoglou 4 2 1 6 1 — MF Spyros Thodis 4 4 — MF Vangelis Vlachos 2 2 4 Forwards — FW Dimitrios Gesios 1 1 — FW Dušan Bajević 1 1 1 1 — FW Dimitrios Papadopoulos — FW Thomas Mavros 1 1 1 1 — FW Manolis Kottis — FW Thomas Stafylas Left during Winter Transfer Window — FW Tasos Konstantinou — FW Giorgos Chatziioannidis