1959–60 Alpha Ethniki
24th season of top-tier football league in Greece
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The 1959–60 Alpha Ethniki was the 24th season of the highest football league of Greece and the first season of the nationwide league after the league replaced the Panhellenic Championship. The season began on 25 October 1959 and ended on 31 July 1960 with the play-off matches. Panathinaikos won their fourth Greek title and their first in seven years.
4th Greek title
Megas Alexandros Katerinis
AE Nikaia
| Season | 1959–60 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Panathinaikos 4th Greek title |
| Relegated | Pankorinthiakos Megas Alexandros Katerinis AE Nikaia |
| European Cup | Panathinaikos |
| Matches | 240 |
| Goals | 619 (2.58 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Kostas Nestoridis (33 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Olympiacos 8–1 Panegialios |
| Biggest away win | AE Nikaia 2–7 Ethnikos Piraeus |
| Highest scoring | Olympiacos 8–1 Panegialios AE Nikaia 2–7 Ethnikos Piraeus |
1960–61 → | |
The 16 teams that formed the first national championship were resulted as follows:
- Panathenian Championship: The first 4 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Panathinaikos, Panionios, AEK Athens and Apollon Athens)
- Piraeus' Championship: The first 3 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Olympiacos, Ethnikos Piraeus and AE Nikaia)
- Macedonian Championship: The first 3 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Aris, PAOK and Apollon Kalamarias)
- Regional Championship South Group:The first 2 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Panegialios and Pankorinthiakos)
- Regional Championship North Group:The first 2 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Doxa Drama and Megas Alexandros Katerinis)
- The 2 final places were secured after a play-off matches by the 4th teams Piraeus' and Macedonian Championship against the 2nd teams of the South and North group respectively. (Proodeftiki and Iraklis against Olympiacos Chalkida or OFI and Aspida Xanthi)
The point system was: Win: 3 points - Draw: 2 points - Loss: 1 point.
Qualification round
Initially there were going to be 18 teams in the first division, however, the delay of 6 weeks in the start of the event due to the financial negotiations between the involved parties General Secretary of Sport, OPAP, HFF and in some places FCAs, put its serious completion in a timely manner. The HFF took the decision to reduce the number of teams to 16 and as a consequence a promotional play-off round was formed to decide the last two places of the championship.
South Group 2nd-place play-offs
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Play-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympiacos Chalkida | 4–3 | OFI | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
Olympiacos Chalkida qualifies to the promotional Play-offs.
Promotion play-offs
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Play-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympiacos Chalkida | 2–5 | Proodeftiki | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–3 |
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iraklis | 3–0 | Aspida Xanthi | 1–0 | 2–0 |
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panathinaikos (C) | 30 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 59 | 20 | +39 | 79[a] | Qualification for European Cup |
| 2 | AEK Athens | 30 | 21 | 7 | 2 | 72 | 27 | +45 | 79[a] | |
| 3 | Olympiacos | 30 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 52 | 24 | +28 | 70 | |
| 4 | Apollon Athens | 30 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 52 | 33 | +19 | 66 | |
| 5 | Panionios | 30 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 46 | 31 | +15 | 64 | |
| 6 | Doxa Drama | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 47 | 41 | +6 | 60 | |
| 7 | PAOK | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 59[b] | |
| 8 | Aris | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 31 | 35 | −4 | 59[b] | |
| 9 | Iraklis | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 29 | 34 | −5 | 58[c] | |
| 10 | Proodeftiki | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 34 | 36 | −2 | 58[c] | |
| 11 | Apollon Kalamarias | 30 | 7 | 12 | 11 | 31 | 39 | −8 | 56 | |
| 12 | Ethnikos Piraeus | 30 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 34 | 46 | −12 | 56 | |
| 13 | Panegialios | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 26 | 43 | −17 | 55[d] | |
| 14 | Pankorinthiakos (R) | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 27 | 45 | −18 | 55[d] | Relegation to FCA Winners' Championship |
| 15 | Megas Alexandros Katerinis (R) | 30 | 4 | 9 | 17 | 27 | 60 | −33 | 47 | |
| 16 | AE Nikaia (R) | 30 | 2 | 5 | 23 | 20 | 73 | −53 | 39 |
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd decision match; 3rd head-to-head goal difference.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
Results
Championship play-off
| Panathinaikos | 2–1 | AEK Athens |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Top scorers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Kostas Nestoridis |
AEK Athens | 33 |
| 2 | Giorgos Kamaras |
Apollon Athens | 19 |
| 3 | Elias Yfantis |
Olympiacos | 16 |
| 4 | Pavlos Grigoriadis |
Doxa Drama | 14 |
| 5 | Giannis Cholevas |
Apollon Athens | 13 |
| 6 | Vangelis Karafoulidis |
Megas Alexandros Katerinis | 11 |
| Lakis Sofianos |
Panegialios | ||
| Andreas Stamatiadis |
AEK Athens |
Attendances
Panathinaikos drew the highest average home attendance in the 1959–60 Alpha Ethniki.[1]
| # | Team | Average attendance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panathinaikos | 13,394 |
| 2 | AEK Athens | 11,426 |
| 3 | Olympiacos | 11,101 |
| 4 | Apollon Athens | 6,865 |
| 5 | PAOK | 6,043 |
| 6 | Proodeftiki | 5,195 |
| 7 | Aris | 5,069 |
| 8 | Ethnikos Piraeus | 4,223 |
| 9 | Panionios | 3,833 |
| 10 | Iraklis | 3,830 |
| 11 | Doxa Drama | 3,335 |
| 12 | Panegialios | 2,934 |
| 13 | Pankorinthiakos | 2,807 |
| 14 | Apollon Kalamarias | 2,441 |
| 15 | AE Nikaia | 2,318 |
| 16 | Megas Alexandros Katerinis | 2,179 |