# 1956–57 Panhellenic Championship

The 1956–57 Panhellenic Championship was the 21st season of the highest football league of Greece and one of the most interesting championships in the 50s and also one of the most discussed due to the punishment of Ethnikos Piraeus from the HFF. Olympiacos won their 13th championship (4 consecutive) after an interesting race with Panathinaikos which ended in a tie and therefore the title was decided by a play-off round in which Olympiacos won.
Compared to the previous season, the teams that participated in the final phase of the championship increased by 4 (10 out of 6) and resulted as follows:
* Athenian Championship: The first 3 teams of the ranking.
* Piraeus' Championship: The first 2 teams of the ranking.
* Macedonian Championship: The first 2 teams of the ranking.
* Regional Championship: The 2 winners (North and South group).
* An additional position was secured after a play-off round between the third teams Piraeus' and Macedonian Championship.
The qualifying round matches took place from 16 September 1956 to 11 January 1957, while the final phase took place from 13 January to 18 July 1957. The point system was: Win: 3 points - Draw: 2 points - Loss: 1 point.

## Qualification round
### Athens Football Clubs Association

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | PAO | PGSS | APOL | AEK | EGA | AST | ATH | FOS |
| 1 | Panathinaikos (Q) | 14 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 30 | 11 | +19 | 37 | Final round | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 |
| 2 | Panionios (Q) | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 17 | +3 | 32 | Final round | 3–2 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Apollon Athens (Q) | 14 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 25 | 13 | +12 | 31 | Final round | 0–1 | 4–0 | | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| 4 | AEK Athens | 14 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 21 | 15 | +6 | 30 | | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–3 | | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 |
| 5 | Egaleo | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 26 | −14 | 26 | | 0–6 | 1–0 | 1–6 | 0–0 | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| 6 | Asteras Athens | 14 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 15 | −8 | 25 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | | 3–2 | 1–1 |
| 7 | Athinaikos | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 21 | −8 | 23 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 0–0 | | 2–1 |
| 8 | Fostiras | 14 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 24 | −10 | 20 | | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | |

### Piraeus Football Clubs Association

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | OLY | PRO | ETH | ATR | PAN | ARIS | AEN | FIL | DOX |
| 1 | Olympiacos (Q) | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 69 | 7 | +62 | 48 | Final round | | 2–1 | 3–0 | 7–0 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 7–0 | 9–0 | 2–0 |
| 2 | Proodeftiki (Q) | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 26 | 16 | +10 | 37 | Final round | 0–4 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Ethnikos Piraeus (A) | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 31 | 17 | +14 | 36 | 3rd-place play-offs | 1–3 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 6–3 | 3–0 | 6–1 |
| 4 | Atromitos Piraeus | 16 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 17 | 22 | −5 | 31 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 3–1 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| 5 | Panelefsiniakos | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 28 | −13 | 29 | | 1–7 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| 6 | Aris Piraeus | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 16 | 30 | −14 | 27 | | 1–7 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| 7 | AE Nikaia | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 20 | 38 | −18 | 27 | | 0–4 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| 8 | Filathloi Nikaia | 16 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 36 | −23 | 27 | | 0–4 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | | 2–2 |
| 9 | Doxa Piraeus | 16 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 23 | −13 | 25 | | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | |
* ↑ Atromitos Piraeus has 1 defeat without a match and -1 point.
* ↑ The initial 2–1 was repeated, but Atromitos Piraeus resigned. Awarded 2–0 to Panelefsiniakos.
* 1 2 3 5–7 place ranking match: Aris Piraeus–Filathloi Nikaia 1–0, AE Nikaia–Aris Piraeus 1–0, Filathloi Nikaia–AE Nikaia 3–2. The ranking was formed based on the goal difference in the championship.

### Macedonia Football Clubs Association

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | PAOK | ARIS | APOL | MAK | IRA | MEL |
| 1 | PAOK (Q) | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 8 | +12 | 24 | Final round | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 8–2 |
| 2 | Aris (Q) | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 23 | Final round | 0–1 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Apollon Kalamarias (A) | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 14 | +4 | 22 | 3rd-place play-offs | 2–1 | 1–2 | | 2–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 |
| 4 | Makedonikos | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 12 | −3 | 18 | | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| 5 | Iraklis | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 18 | | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | | 3–1 |
| 6 | Meliteas | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 23 | −16 | 15 | | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 1–0 | 1–1 | |
* 1 2 4th place ranking match: Makedonikos–Iraklis 3–2.

### Piraeus/Macedonia 3rd teams play-offs

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Apollon Kalamarias | 1–3 | Ethnikos Piraeus | 1–1 | 0–2 |

### Regional Championship
#### South Group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | PNA | OFI | PAN | OLY |
| 1 | Panargiakos (Q) | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 13 | Final round | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| 2 | OFI | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 13 | | 0–2 | | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Panachaiki | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 12 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 3–1 |
| 4 | Olympiacos Chalkidas | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 10 | | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | |

#### North Group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | DOX | NIK | ETH |
| 1 | Doxa Dramas (Q) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | +10 | 11 | Final round | | 1–0 | 7–0 |
| 2 | Niki Volos | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 2 | +10 | 9 | | 0–0 | | 9–0 |
| 3 | Ethnikos Alexandroupolis | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 21 | −20 | 4 | | 0–2 | 1–3 | |

## Final round
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Olympiacos (C) | 18 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 42 | 11 | +31 | 46 |
| 2 | Panathinaikos | 18 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 41 | 13 | +28 | 46 |
| 3 | Apollon Athens | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 38 | 23 | +15 | 42 |
| 4 | PAOK | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 28 | 25 | +3 | 37 |
| 5 | Doxa Drama | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 35 |
| 6 | Ethnikos Piraeus | 18 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 23 | 22 | +1 | 34 |
| 7 | Aris | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 23 | 24 | −1 | 34 |
| 8 | Panionios | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 30 | 28 | +2 | 33 |
| 9 | Proodeftiki | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 26 | 36 | −10 | 31 |
| 10 | Panargiakos | 18 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 7 | 76 | −69 | 16 |
* ↑ Ethnikos Piraeus was disqualified from the championship, after a controversial decision, 4 matches before the end of the season. Those matches counted as defeats without a match and Ethnikos got -1 point for each match.
* ↑ Panargiakos Argos have 2 points deducted.

### Results

| Home \ Away | OLY | PAO | APOL | PAOK | DOX | ETH | ARIS | PGSS | PRO | PAN |
| Olympiacos | | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 5–0 |
| Panathinaikos | 1–0 | | 4–2 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 6–0 |
| Apollon Athens | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 8–0 |
| PAOK | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| Doxa Drama | 2–3 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 1–4 | | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 4–1 |
| Ethnikos Piraeus | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–5 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| Aris | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | | 2–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Panionios | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 2–2 | 4–0 |
| Proodeftiki | 0–4 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 | | 5–1 |
| Panargiakos | 1–6 | 0–6 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 1–6 | 1–4 | 1–5 | 0–4 | |
* 1 2 3 4 Ethnikos Piraeus' last 4 matches were not held due to its punishment and lost them all with a 2–0 score.
* 1 2 Panargiakos withdrew from its last 2 matches, which were secured with a score of 2–0 in favor of Aris and PAOK respectively.

### Championship play-offs

Summary :
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |

#### Replay match

Olympiacos won 1–0 on aggregate.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Petros Christofidis | Proodeftiki | 15 |
| 2 | Thanasis Saravakos | Panionios | 11 |
| 3 | Elias Yfantis | Olympiacos | 10 |
| 3 | Lakis Sofianos | Panathinaikos | 10 |
| 4 | Giorgos Kamaras | Apollon Athens | 9 |
| 5 | Vangelis Panakis | Panathinaikos | 8 |
| 5 | Savvas Papazoglou | Apollon Athens | 8 |
| 5 | Lambis Kouikouridis | PAOK | 8 |
| 5 | Giorgos Chavanidis | PAOK | 8 |
| 5 | Christos Karaoulanis | Ethnikos Piraeus | 8 |
| 5 | Giorgos Kansos | Proodeftiki | 8 |