1978–79 AEK Athens F.C. season

The peculiarities of the 1978–79 season could well mark it as historic for the Greek Football, while it was also the last semi-professional season as with the enactment of law 879/79 in March, all the football clubs were obliged to be converted into S.A. to participate in the first professional championship of the next season. In the summer, there was an "epidemic" of transfers by iconic players among the big teams. AEK were the only club that was left intact. Georgios Delikaris moved from Olympiacos to Panathinaikos, Antonis Antoniadis followed the opposite path and Mimis Domazos left Panathinaikos. Loukas Barlos seized the chance and signed him to AEK. Thus, for one season, AEK had in their roster at the same time the two best Greek footballers of the century, both born in 1942, both named "Mimis": Papaioannou and Domazos. The addition of the "general", Mimis Domazos to the roster, with his leadership skills and tactical mind, gave the already impressive team, the element that made them one of the most spectacular that have ever played in the Greek stadiums. Furthermore, after the departure of the double winner, Zlatko Čajkovski for Zürich, Barlos brought to the club's bench the great Ferenc Puskás, who alongside Domazos were the architects of Panathinaikos' campaign to the 1971 European Cup Final, hoping that AEK would do a similar breakthrough at the European stage.

In the championship, AEK started impressively and were ahead in the standings. Olympiacos were the only rival for the title. While AEK were generously scattering goals and spectacle, while in the opposite of the event, there were many official complaints of the opponents of Olympiacos for attempts of bribery. In the 12th matchday, Oikonomou of Apollon Athens and on the 23rd and the goalkeeper of PAS Giannina, Lisa, reported of bribery on the side of Olympiacos and on the 32nd matchday, after their match against Olympiacos, Rodos punished Doxakis, Papaoikonomou and Skartados for having reduced performance in the match as Olympiacos turned their 3–1 lead in 23 minutes, with the help of the referee as well.^[1]

AEK also started their obligations in the European Cup against Porto. The quality of the opponent and the fullness of AEK foreshadowed two ambiguous matches with an uncertain outcome. In Nea Filadelfeia, AEK and their fans experienced a magical European night and witnessed the club's biggest victory in the European Cup with 6–1, which gave AEK a largely securing qualification to the next round. In the rematch AEK opened the score in the first half and in the last half hour of the match they turned off the engines as the Portuguese grabbed the opportunity and scored four goals. Next opponent for AEK, Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. The "reds" having learned not to underestimate their opponents and being aware of AEK's impressive performance against Porto, came to Nea Filadelfeia for the first leg, completely focused on their goal. Nottingham took the lead early on and at the 21st minute, AEK were left with 10 players after the suspension of Milton Viera. At the end of the half Nottingham doubled their lead and until the match was over the Englishmen played conservatively with AEK managing to reduce in the final 1–2. In the second leg AEK entered the pitch knowing well that a difficult night that awaited them. In the first half, Nottingham easily scored three goals having lost several opportunities to a widen the score, while at the second half, AEK reduced to 3–1 with a header from Bajević. Nottingham completed their imposing appearance with a 5–1 victory and eventually won the trophy.

Towards the end of the championship, AEK presented an inexplicable decline in their performance and in the face of the risk of losing the title after the away defeat by Aris on March 11, Barlos decided to remove Puskás from bench of the team and assigned it to his assistant, Andreas Stamatiadis for the rest of the season. In the Greek Cup, it was the first year that the two-legged tie on a home and away basis, for the quarter-finals and the semi-finals were established, according to the model of European cups. The AEK marched through the first three rounds eliminating Kavala, Proodeftiki and Acharnaikos, respectively. In the quarter-final against Anagennisi Epanomi after a 1–1 away draw, AEK won 2–0 in the second leg and qualified to the semi-final where they faced Panachaiki. In Patras, they were defeated by 3–2 but at home AEK won easily by 5–1. In the final AEK met Panionios who came from two consecutive unexpected qualifications. In the game, while AEK managed to take the lead early on, Panionios succeeded in putting AEK to "sleep" and by not letting them impose their frenetic tempo, completed the comeback and won by 3–1 and became one of the biggest surprises in the history of the institution.^[2]

The end of the championship found AEK and Olympiacos, even in the first place with 56 points and a play-off match for the title was set. Olympiacos either in fear of a possible embarrassment from AEK, or as part of an unofficial deal with the HFF in exchange for silencing allegations of bribery and consequently avoiding demotion, were not going to show up to the match. The excuse was the protest for the refereeing of Charalampos Pamporidis against OFI in the last matchday, considering him responsible for not managing to complete the comeback of a 3–1 loss that would resulted in winning the league. On June 16, at the stadium on Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, AEK were the only team lined up on the pitch. The absence of Olympiacos automatically declared AEK champion with a 2–0 victory without a match.^[3] During the season AEK were an unstoppable football machine that dismantled their opponents as they achieved the league's best offense with a total of 90 goals, rewarding their opponents 6 times with 5 goals and 2 with 7 goals. Thomas Mavros was declared the top scorer of the league with 31 goals and 40 in total, winning the European Silver Shoe, just 3 goals behind Kees Kist.^[4] In the third place of the top scorers of the league was Dušan Bajević with 24 goals and in the 8th, Takis Nikoloudis with 12. That season would be the last at AEK for the emblematic leader, Mimis Papaioannou which after 17 consecutive years of presence, he would be passed on the pantheon of the legends in the history of the club.^[5]

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 16 June 1979, 23:59 UTC+3.

Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Nikos Christidis		GK	(1944-08-02)2 August 1944 (aged 34)	1976	Aris	Free	1982
Lakis Stergioudas		GK	(1952-12-11)11 December 1952 (aged 26)	1972	Niki Poligyrou	Free	1984
Spyros Ikonomopoulos		GK	(1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 19)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1993
Defenders
Apostolos Toskas		CB	(1947-12-28)28 December 1947 (aged 31)	1969	Trikala	Free	1979
Lakis Nikolaou (Captain)		CB / RB / ST / DM	(1949-07-17)17 July 1949 (aged 29)	1971	Atromitos	₯600,000	1979
Babis Intzoglou		RB / LB / CB	(1949-04-01)1 April 1949 (aged 30)	1976	Panionios	Free	1980
Giannis Mousouris		RB / RM / ST	(1951-01-26)26 January 1951 (aged 28)	1977	AEL	₯3,000,000	1982
Petros Ravousis		CB / RB	(1954-10-01)1 October 1954 (aged 24)	1972	Aetos Skydra	Free	1984
Aris Damianidis		CB / RB	(1955-03-02)2 March 1955 (aged 24)	1977	Egaleo	Free	1980
Dimitris Kotsos		LB	(1955-03-30)30 March 1955 (aged 24)	1978	Kastoria	Free	1980
Stavros Letsas		RB / RM / CB	(1957-03-06)6 March 1957 (aged 22)	1978	Agioi Anargyroi	Free	1985
Panagiotis Stylianopoulos		RB / LB	(1957-09-04)4 September 1957 (aged 21)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1988
Theodoros Apostolopoulos		CB	1959 (aged 19–20)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1980
Midfielders
Mimis Domazos		AM / SS	(1942-01-22)22 January 1942 (aged 37)	1978	Panathinaikos	Free	1980
Milton Viera		CM / DM	(1946-05-11)11 May 1946 (aged 33)	1977	Olympiacos	Free	1980
Lazaros Papadopoulos		RM / RW	(1950-01-03)3 January 1950 (aged 29)	1973	Veria	Free	1979
Dionysis Tsamis		CM / DM / AM	(1951-05-21)21 May 1951 (aged 28)	1972	Panetolikos	₯2,300,000	1980
Takis Nikoloudis		CM / AM / RM / LM	(1951-08-26)26 August 1951 (aged 27)	1977	Iraklis	Free	1981
Christos Ardizoglou		RM / LM / RW / AM	(1953-03-25)25 March 1953 (aged 26)	1974	Apollon Athens	₯5,000,000	1986
Christos Kalaitzidis		LM	(1959-02-06)6 February 1959 (aged 20)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1981
Dimitris Kokkinopoulos		RM / RW	1960 (aged 18–19)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1980
Forwards
Mimis Papaioannou (Vice-captain)		SS / ST / AM	(1942-08-23)23 August 1942 (aged 36)	1962	Veria	₯175,000	1979
Dušan Bajević		ST / SS	(1948-12-10)10 December 1948 (aged 30)	1977	Velež Mostar	Free	1981
Tasos Konstantinou		RW / SS / ST / RM / AM	(1951-03-11)11 March 1951 (aged 28)	1972	EPA Larnaca	Free	1980
Thomas Mavros		ST / SS	(1954-05-31)31 May 1954 (aged 25)	1976	Panionios	Free	1984

Pos.	Player	From	Type	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	—	1 July 1978	30 June 1996
DF	Theodoros Apostolopoulos	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	—	1 July 1978	30 June 1980
DF	Stavros Letsas	Agioi Anargyroi	Transfer	Free	1 July 1978	30 June 1985
DF	Panagiotis Stylianopoulos	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	—	1 July 1978	30 June 1988
DF	Dimitris Kotsos	Kastoria	Transfer	Free	1 July 1978	30 June 1980
ΜF	Dimitris Kokkinopoulos	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	—	1 July 1978	30 June 1980
ΜF	Christos Kalaitzidis	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	—	1 July 1978	30 June 1981
MF	Mimis Domazos	Panathinaikos	Transfer	Free	17 July 1978	30 June 1980

Pos.	Player	To	Type	Fee	Date	Source
DF	Stefanos Theodoridis	Olympiacos	End of contract	—	1 July 1978
MF	Fotis Outsikas	Acharnaikos	Contract termination	—	1 July 1978
MF	Giorgos Vlachonikolis	Free agent	End of contract	—	1 July 1978

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
FW	Giorgos Vlantis	Panachaiki	Free	1 July 1978	30 June 1980	N

Expenditure: ₯0

Income: ₯0

Net Total: ₯0

As of 16 June 1979

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		European Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Nikos Christidis	5	0	5	0	2	0	12	0
—	GK	Lakis Stergioudas	30	0	3	0	2	0	35	0
—	GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
—	DF	Apostolos Toskas	6	0	4	0	1	0	11	0
—	DF	Lakis Nikolaou	28	1	6	0	4	1	38	2
—	DF	Babis Intzoglou	17	0	3	0	4	0	24	0
—	DF	Giannis Mousouris	32	3	5	0	4	0	41	3
—	DF	Petros Ravousis	30	0	7	2	4	0	41	2
—	DF	Aris Damianidis	7	0	1	0	1	0	9	0
—	DF	Dimitris Kotsos	21	0	5	0	0	0	26	0
—	DF	Stavros Letsas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
—	DF	Panagiotis Stylianopoulos	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
—	DF	Theodoros Apostolopoulos	9	0	7	0	0	0	16	0
Midfielders
—	MF	Mimis Domazos	29	5	4	0	2	0	35	5
—	MF	Milton Viera	8	0	3	0	2	0	13	0
—	MF	Lazaros Papadopoulos	9	1	1	1	2	0	12	2
—	MF	Dionysis Tsamis	27	0	5	0	1	0	33	0
—	MF	Takis Nikoloudis	31	12	6	3	4	0	41	15
—	MF	Christos Ardizoglou	29	6	6	0	4	1	39	7
—	MF	Christos Kalaitzidis	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
—	MF	Dimitris Kokkinopoulos	5	0	3	0	0	0	8	0
Forwards
—	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	22	2	3	0	0	0	25	2
—	FW	Dušan Bajević	29	24	8	9	4	3	41	36
—	FW	Tasos Konstantinou	25	4	6	2	4	2	35	8
—	FW	Thomas Mavros	33	31	6	7	4	2	43	40

As of 16 June 1979

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	European Cup	Total
1	FW	Thomas Mavros	31	7	2	40
2	FW	Dušan Bajević	24	9	3	36
3	MF	Takis Nikoloudis	12	3	0	15
4	FW	Tasos Konstantinou	4	2	2	8
5	MF	Christos Ardizoglou	6	0	1	7
6	MF	Mimis Domazos	5	0	0	5
7	DF	Giannis Mousouris	3	0	0	3
8	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	2	0	0	2
	MF	Lazaros Papadopoulos	1	1	0	2
	DF	Lakis Nikolaou	1	0	1	2
	DF	Petros Ravousis	0	2	0	2
Own goals			1	0	0	1
Totals			90	24	9	123

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition	Source
Dušan Bajević	Iraklis	5–1 (H)	1 October 1978	Alpha Ethniki
Thomas Mavros	Kavala	5–2 (H)	8 November 1978	Greek Cup
Dušan Bajević4	Panserraikos	5–0 (H)	31 December 1978	Alpha Ethniki	[7]
Thomas Mavros	AEL	4–2 (H)	14 January 1979	Alpha Ethniki	[8]
Thomas Mavros	Egaleo	5–0 (H)	4 February 1979	Alpha Ethniki
Thomas Mavros	Panserraikos	5–2 (A)	6 May 1979	Alpha Ethniki	[9]
Thomas Mavros	Kavala	7–0 (H)	27 May 1979	Alpha Ethniki

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 16 June 1979

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	European Cup	Total
1	Lakis Stergioudas	13	0	0	13
2	Nikos Christidis	2	3	0	5
Totals		15	3	0	18

As of 16 June 1979

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		Apostolos Toskas	1									1
—	DF		Lakis Nikolaou			1	2			1			3		1
—	DF		Babis Intzoglou							1			1
—	DF		Giannis Mousouris	2			1						3
—	DF		Petros Ravousis	7	1		1			1			9	1
—	DF		Aris Damianidis
—	DF		Dimitris Kotsos	3									3
—	DF		Stavros Letsas
—	DF		Panagiotis Stylianopoulos
—	DF		Theodoros Apostolopoulos
Midfielders
—	MF		Mimis Domazos
—	MF		Milton Viera	1			1			2	1		4	1
—	MF		Lazaros Papadopoulos
—	MF		Dionysis Tsamis	1									1
—	MF		Takis Nikoloudis			1									1
—	MF		Christos Ardizoglou	1									1
—	MF		Christos Kalaitzidis
—	MF		Dimitris Kokkinopoulos
Forwards
—	FW		Mimis Papaioannou
—	FW		Dušan Bajević	2		1	1						3		1
—	FW		Tasos Konstantinou						1						1
—	FW		Thomas Mavros