page_title: AEK Athens F.C.
section_title: UEFA Europa League unbeaten run and Greek Champions
hierarchical_section_title: AEK Athens F.C. / History / The second Melissanidis era / UEFA Europa League unbeaten run and Greek Champions
caption_attribution_description: English: Rizoupoli Stadium during Apollon vs AEK game, when AEK were crowned Champions of Greece after 24 years.
context_page_description: AEK Football Club, also known in European competitions as AEK Athens FC, is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filadelfeia, a suburb of Athens, Greece.
  Established in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War, AEK has become one of the three most popular clubs
  in Greece and the Greek diaspora and one of the three most successful teams in Greek football, winning 32 national titles and the only one
  to have won all the competitions organised by the Hellenic Football Federation
context_section_description: The third season back in the top flight began with a tough draw in the Champions League Third qualifying round versus CSKA Moscow losing 3–0 on aggregate. The loss meant AEK were demoted to the Europa League play-off round where they were pitted versus Belgians Club Brugge. A 0–0 draw in Brugge in the first leg and a 3–0 win in the return in Athens meant that AEK qualified for the group stages of a major European competition for the first time in 6 years. They were seeded in pot 4 and were drawn along with AC Milan, HNK Rijeka and Austria Wien. AEK would go on to qualify for the round of 32 undefeated, a statement that solidified their return as one of Europe's elite teams, with a record of 1 win and 5 draws, the most notable being the two back to back 0–0 draws versus AC Milan. In the Round of 32 AEK were drawn against Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kyiv. AEK were better than their opponents, but also were unlucky and lost after two draws and on away goal rule. The first match took place in Athens, with a 1–1 draw and the second game in Kiev, finished 0–0. In April, AEK won their 12th Greek championship, by recording a 2–0 home win against Levadiakos in front of 60,000 fans. This was their first championship after 24 years. AEK were crowned champions in front of 14,500 of their fans in the last matchday against Apollon Smyrnis at Georgios Kamaras Stadium.
  2018–19 season was the season that AEK returned to the groups of the UEFA Champions League, for the 5th time in the club’s history after eliminating Celtic (3–2 on aggregate) and MOL Vidi (3–2 on aggregate) in the qualifying stages.
  Led by former Panathinaikos' manager, Marinos Ouzounidis, AEK was drawn against Bayern Munich, Benfica and Ajax and failed to make an impact after losing all 6 matches in the group stage.
  Key-players Jakob Johansson, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Sergio Araujo and Ognjen Vranješ as well as manager Manolo Jiménez that were essential to the 2017–18 triumphant season left the club and most transfers failed to add up to the team. Greek international Marios Oikonomou and Argentine striker Ezequiel Ponce were the only newcomers that managed to make an impact to an overall disappointing season (3rd place, 23 points behind 1st PAOK and 18 points behind 2nd Olympiacos - third consecutive cup final loss from PAOK, 1–0)
  2017–18 season's champions, Ognjen Vranješ and Sergio Araujo returned to Athens, and some other notable additions are Portuguese international Nélson Oliveira and Serbian midfielder Nenad Krstičić. 2019–20 season started catastrophically, with an early Europa League elimination from Turkish side Trabzonspor (1–3 in Athens, 0–2 in Trabzon, 3–3 on aggregate) and disappointing domestic results. New manager, Miguel Cardoso was sacked quickly to be replaced with club’s veteran player and manager, Nikos Kostenoglou who was also later replaced by current manager, Massimo Carrera.
  Under Carrera, AEK seems to have regained the confidence lost from the previous 1,5 year of bad results. Before the lockdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic AEK was 3rd in the regular season and in the semifinals of the Greek Cup (2–1 home victory against Aris in the first leg), close to make it to the final for a fifth time in a row.
  Source: AEK Athens F.C.
caption: Georgios Kamaras Stadium during Apollon Smyrnis vs AEK game (0–1) in matchday 30 of the 2017–18 Super League Greece. After the game AEK were crowned Champions after 24 years. The coach Manolo Jiménez is the person with the light blue shirt on the bottom of the picture.
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