# 1972–73 AEK Athens F.C. season

The 1972–73 season was the 49th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 14th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup and the UEFA Cup. The season began on 13 September 1972 and finished on 3 June 1973.

## Kits

| Home | Away |

## Overview

The declining course of AEK Athens continued during the period 1972–73. Important players such as Petros Ravousis, Tasos Konstantinou and Dionysis Tsamis were acquired. On the other hand, the arrival of dubious value of Latin American footballers, according to the current of the time, such as Néstor Errea, Rodolfo Vicente and Hugo Zeer did not offer anything special to the problematic AEK.
AEK participated in the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history. In the first round, they were drawn against the Hungarian Salgótarján. It was characteristic, that the two matches against AEK constitute the whole of the European presence in Salgótarján's history. In the first leg at Nea Filadelfeia, AEK prevailed easily with 3–1. The rematch in Hungary had acquired a purely procedural character and the yellow-blacks qualified with a 1–1 draw. In the second round, luck completely turned its back on AEK, bringing them against the great Liverpool of Bill Shankly. The first match on Anfield, Liverpool's unquestionable superiority was certified, as the reds took the victory with 3–0 and largely ensured the qualification for the next round. In the rematch of AEK Stadium, Liverpool finished the job with a 3–1 win, which sent them to the next round and in the conquest of the title, at the end of the season.
For another year AEK stayed away from claiming the cup. In the first round, they eliminated Korinthos at home and in the round of 32, they overcame Ethnikos Asteras, with an impressive 9–0 home win. At the round of 16, AEK were drawn against the second division club Apollon Kalamarias and were eliminated with a 2–1 defeat at Kalamaria. That resulted in the removal of Branko Stanković from the bench of the team, after 5 years at the club.
After a period with the manager of the reserve team, Kostas Chatzimichail at the wheel, Billy Bingham, the then manager of the national team, was hired in February at a very difficult turn for the club, which was plagued by administrative and competitive problems. AEK were far from the top and the Irishman failed to change the situation and was fired at the end of the season. As a result, the club finished 5th, at a distance of 23 points from the top. The counterproductive attack of AEK in contrast to their long tradition in this section, was remarkable, as they scored only 39 goals while conceding 36.

## Management team

| Position | Staff |
| Manager | Billy Bingham |
| Assistant manager | Kostas Chatzimichail |
| 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 3 June 1973, 23:59 UTC+2.
| Player | Position(s) | Date of birth (Age) | Signed | Previous club | Transfer fee | Contract until |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||
| Néstor Errea | GK | (1939-04-27)27 April 1939 (aged 34) | 1972 | Banfield | Free | 1974 |
| Stelios Konstantinidis | GK | (1947-06-06)6 June 1947 (aged 26) | 1967 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1973 |
| Lakis Stergioudas | GK | (1952-12-11)11 December 1952 (aged 20) | 1972 | Niki Poligyrou | Free | 1985 |
| Giorgos Daditsos | GK | (1953-03-09)9 March 1953 (aged 20) | 1970 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1975 |
| Defenders ||||||||
| Giorgos Tanidis | CB | (1946-12-25)25 December 1946 (aged 26) | 1971 | Aris Ptolemaidas | Free | 1974 |
| Rizos Lelis | CB | (1947-11-13)13 November 1947 (aged 25) | 1972 | AEL | Free | 1973 |
| Apostolos Toskas | CB | (1947-12-28)28 December 1947 (aged 25) | 1969 | Trikala | Free | 1979 |
| Nikos Karapoulitidis | CB / RB | (1948-11-30)30 November 1948 (aged 24) | 1967 | Free agent | Free | 1975 |
| Stefanos Theodoridis | CB / RB | (1950-06-19)19 June 1950 (aged 23) | 1969 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1978 |
| Lefteris Istorios | RB / LB / CM / DM | (1951-10-02)2 October 1951 (aged 21) | 1971 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1976 |
| Petros Ravousis | CB / RB | (1954-10-01)1 October 1954 (aged 18) | 1972 | Aetos Skydra | Free | 1985 |
| Midfielders ||||||||
| Nikos Stathopoulos | LM / LB | (1943-11-08)8 November 1943 (aged 29) | 1965 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1974 |
| Hugo Horacio Zerr | CM / AM | (1946-11-13)13 November 1946 (aged 26) | 1972 | Nueva Chicago | Free | 1974 |
| Giorgos Karafeskos | CM / DM / RM / RW | (1946-12-08)8 December 1946 (aged 26) | 1963 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1974 |
| Giorgos Lavaridis | CM / DM | (1947-10-15)15 October 1947 (aged 25) | 1968 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1975 |
| Dionysis Tsamis | CM / DM / AM | (1951-05-21)21 May 1951 (aged 22) | 1972 | Panetolikos | ₯2,300,000 | 1980 |
| Vangelis Makos | CM | 1952 (aged 20–21) | 1972 | Thriamvos Athens | Free | 1975 |
| Forwards ||||||||
| Mimis Papaioannou (Captain) | SS / ST / AM | (1942-08-23)23 August 1942 (aged 30) | 1962 | Veria | ₯175,000 | 1979 |
| Spyros Pomonis | LW / LM | (1944-02-12)12 February 1944 (aged 29) | 1960 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1973 |
| Kostas Nikolaidis | RW / LW / SS / ST | (1944-09-10)10 September 1944 (aged 28) | 1965 | PAO Safrabolis | Free | 1973 |
| Giannis Dandelis | ST | (1945-05-31)31 May 1945 (aged 28) | 1972 | Veria | Free | 1977 |
| Rodolfo Vicente | RW / RM | (1946-07-21)21 July 1946 (aged 26) | 1972 | Atlanta | Free | 1974 |
| Babis Psimogiannos | ST | (1947-08-13)13 August 1947 (aged 25) | 1971 | Aris Agios Konstantinos | Free | 1976 |
| Lakis Nikolaou | ST / CB / RB / DM | (1949-07-17)17 July 1949 (aged 23) | 1971 | Atromitos | ₯600,000 | 1979 |
| Tasos Konstantinou | RW / SS / ST / RM / AM | (1951-03-11)11 March 1951 (aged 22) | 1972 | EPA Larnaca | Free | 1980 |
| Christos Karypidis | RW / ST / RM / AM | (1952-08-01)1 August 1952 (aged 20) | 1972 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1977 |

## Transfers
### In

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Contract Until |
| GK | Néstor Errea | Banfield | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1974 |
| GK | Lakis Stergioudas | Niki Poligyrou | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1985 |
| DF | Rizos Lelis | AEL | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1973 |
| DF | Petros Ravousis | Aetos Skydra | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1985 |
| MF | Hugo Horacio Zerr | Nueva Chicago | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1974 |
| MF | Dionysis Tsamis | Panetolikos | ₯2,300,000 | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1980 |
| MF | Vangelis Makos | Thriamvos Athens | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1975 |
| FW | Rodolfo Vicente | Atlanta | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1974 |
| FW | Tasos Konstantinou | EPA Larnaca | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 | 1 December 1980 |
| FW | Christos Karypidis | AEK Athens U20 | Promotion | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1977 |
| FW | Giannis Dandelis | Veria | ₯540,000 | 29 June 1972 | 30 June 1977 |
| FW | Dimitris Palasidis | AO Koropi | Loan return | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1974 |
    a. $^^$ plus Dimitris Palasidis as exchange and the incomes of a friendly between the two clubs.

### Out

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date |
| GK | Stelios Serafidis | Retired | Retired | 1 July 1972 |
| GK | Kostas Silivistras | Kallithea | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 |
| DF | Kostas Triantafyllou | Atromitos | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 |
| DF | Giorgos Kefalidis | Atromitos | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 |
| MF | Stelios Skevofilakas | Atromitos | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 |
| MF | Panagiotis Ventouris | Anorthosis Famagusta | End of contract | 1 July 1972 |
| FW | Andreas Papaemmanouil | Retired | Retired | 1 July 1972 |
| FW | Giorgos Kachris | Atromitos | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 |
| FW | Kostas Chanios | Atromitos | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 |
| FW | Dimitris Palasidis | Veria | Free transfer | 1 July 1972 |

### Overall transfer activity

Expenditure: ₯2,840,000
Income: ₯0
Net Total: ₯2,840,000

## 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 | 17 September 1972 | 3 June 1973 | Matchday 1 | 5th | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 39 | 36 | +3 | 038.24 |
| Greek Cup | 15 October 1972 | 7 February 1973 | First round | Round of 16 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 2 | +10 | 066.67 |
| UEFA Cup | 13 September 1972 | 7 November 1972 | First round | Second round | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 025.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 41 | 16 | 12 | 13 | 56 | 46 | +10 | 039.02 |
Last updated: 3 June 1973 Source: Competitions

### Alpha Ethniki
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 3 | Panathinaikos | 34 | 22 | 7 | 5 | 89 | 29 | +60 | 82 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Panachaiki | 34 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 42 | 27 | +15 | 78 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | AEK Athens | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 39 | 36 | +3 | 71 | |
| 6 | Ethnikos Piraeus | 34 | 10 | 15 | 9 | 35 | 32 | +3 | 69 | |
| 7 | Panionios | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 41 | 39 | +2 | 69 | |
* ↑ Panathinaikos were deducted 3 points and had 3 games penalty.

#### 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 | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H |
| Result | W | W | D | D | D | W | W | D | L | D | W | L | W | D | W | W | D | D | L | W | L | W | L | W | W | L | L | W | L | D | D | L | L | D |
| Position | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |

#### Fixtures
### UEFA Cup
#### First round
#### Second round
## Statistics
### Squad statistics

    As of 3 June 1973
| No. | Pos | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Greek Cup | UEFA Cup | UEFA Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||
| — | GK | Néstor Errea | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
| — | GK | Stelios Konstantinidis | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| — | GK | Lakis Stergioudas | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| — | GK | Giorgos Daditsos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders |||||||||||
| — | DF | Giorgos Tanidis | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| — | DF | Rizos Lelis | 30 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 36 | 1 |
| — | DF | Apostolos Toskas | 19 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| — | DF | Nikos Karapoulitidis | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| — | DF | Stefanos Theodoridis | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 41 | 0 |
| — | DF | Lefteris Istorios | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| — | DF | Petros Ravousis | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| Midfielders |||||||||||
| — | MF | Nikos Stathopoulos | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| — | MF | Hugo Horacio Zerr | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| — | MF | Giorgos Karafeskos | 23 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 2 |
| — | MF | Giorgos Lavaridis | 28 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 2 |
| — | MF | Dionysis Tsamis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| — | MF | Vangelis Makos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards |||||||||||
| — | FW | Mimis Papaioannou | 21 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 10 |
| — | FW | Spyros Pomonis | 21 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 4 |
| — | FW | Kostas Nikolaidis | 28 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 35 | 13 |
| — | FW | Giannis Dandelis | 26 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 8 |
| — | FW | Rodolfo Vicente | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 22 | 2 |
| — | FW | Babis Psimogiannos | 24 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 6 |
| — | FW | Lakis Nikolaou | 31 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 36 | 7 |
| — | FW | Tasos Konstantinou | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| — | FW | Christos Karypidis | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 |

### Goalscorers

    As of 3 June 1973
| Rank | Pos. | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | UEFA Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | Kostas Nikolaidis | 7 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
| 2 | FW | Mimis Papaioannou | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
| 3 | FW | Giannis Dandelis | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 4 | FW | Lakis Nikolaou | 5 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 5 | FW | Babis Psimogiannos | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 | FW | Spyros Pomonis | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | MF | Giorgos Lavaridis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | MF | Giorgos Karafeskos | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | FW | Rodolfo Vicente | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | DF | Rizos Lelis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | FW | Christos Karypidis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | 39 | 12 | 5 | 56 |

### Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.
| Player | Against | Result | Date | Competition | Source |
| Kostas Nikolaidis$^4$ | Ethnikos Asteras | 9–0 (H) | 3 January 1973 | Greek Cup | |
| Giannis Dandelis | Fostiras | 3–0 (H) | 21 January 1973 | 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 3 June 1973
| Rank | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | UEFA Cup | Total |
| 1 | Néstor Errea | 11 | 1 | 0 | 12 |
| 2 | Stelios Konstantinidis | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Lakis Stergioudas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | Totals | 13 | 2 | 0 | 15 |

### Disciplinary record

    As of 3 June 1973 N P Nat. Name Alpha Ethniki Greek Cup UEFA Cup Total Notes Goalkeepers — GK Néstor Errea — GK Stelios Konstantinidis — GK Lakis Stergioudas — GK Giorgos Daditsos Defenders — DF Giorgos Tanidis 1 1 — DF Rizos Lelis — DF Apostolos Toskas 1 1 — DF Nikos Karapoulitidis — DF Stefanos Theodoridis — DF Lefteris Istorios — DF Petros Ravousis Midfielders — MF Nikos Stathopoulos — MF Hugo Horacio Zerr — MF Giorgos Karafeskos — MF Giorgos Lavaridis — MF Dionysis Tsamis — MF Vangelis Makos Forwards — FW Mimis Papaioannou — FW Spyros Pomonis 1 1 — FW Kostas Nikolaidis 1 1 — FW Giannis Dandelis — FW Rodolfo Vicente — FW Babis Psimogiannos 1 1 — FW Lakis Nikolaou — FW Tasos Konstantinou — FW Christos Karypidis