1982–83 AEK Athens F.C. season

Supplier: Zita Hellas / Adidas
Sponsor(s): Citizen

Home

Away

Home 1982

Away 1982

In the summer of 1982, Andreas Zafiropoulos stepped down as president of AEK Athens due to the "displeasure" of the supporters. He retained the team's shares, but handed over the management of the team to the shipowner Michalis Arkadis. Arkadis was for years the right-hand man of Loukas Barlos, while apart from president, he also served as vice president and general manager of the club.^[2] Takis Nikoloudis returned to the team after his spell at Olympiacos, while AEK also proceeded with the transfer of the goalkeeper Christos Arvanitis. Hristo Bonev left the team and returned to Lokomotiv Plovdiv. Zlatko Čajkovski remained as manager, thus retaining his position after the team's strong finish the previous season, which found AEK competing in the UEFA Cup.

After an absence of two years, AEK participated in the UEFA Cup, facing Köln of Rinus Michels, which had finished as runners-up in the Bundesliga the previous season, featuring players such as Littbarski, Fischer, Alofs, Steiner and Schumacher. The first match took place on 14 September, however, it was not completed due to the large fire at Tatoi and the inevitable power outage of the stadium at the 88th minute without AEK being responsible. In the match, AEK took an early lead, however, trapped in the slow pace of the Germans, the score was turned around by the 33rd minute with AEK managing to equalise just before half-time. In the second half, AEK increased their offensive pace and went 3–2 up, but conceded an equaliser almost immediately. As the game progressed, AEK were pushing on, until in the 88th minute the stadium suffered a power outage. The match was stopped, discussions followed and the referee rejected the proposal to end the match at that point. The suspension of the game was decided and the game was scheduled to be repeated two weeks later, on 28 September.^[3] Both managers changed their tactics based on the conclusions from the first match. In the replay, AEK took the initiative, however, the goal conceded in the 58th minute and the fatigue of the players led to a defeat, making qualification even more difficult. AEK produced a disappointing performance, as the players could not even keep possession. As if this were not enough, Mavros also missed a penalty when the score was at 4–0, in an opportunity to reduce the extent of the score. On the other hand, the Germans fielded a fast-paced side and dominated the match, scoring five goals, while missing further chances, but they did not succeed thanks to the decent performance of Arvanitis. The 6,000 Greeks were present at the stadium, expressed their dissatisfaction with the overall image of the team and left extremely disappointed.

Even though the Championship started with a defeat by Ethnikos Piraeus, the team continued well. As time progressed, the relations of some players with the manager, as well as the concerns of the management of the club about the physical condition of the players, caused controversy in the face of the manager. This culminated in the home match of the 13th matchday against OFI. AEK were leading by 2–0 and eventually were defeated by 2–3, which resulted in the dismissal of Čajkovski. The decision to dismiss the Croatian manager was opposed by the vast majority of the fans of the club, as until that moment AEK were in the race for the championship, just 1 point behind the first Olympiacos. Kostas Nestoridis took charge of the team for the next five games. From the 19th matchday onwards, Helmut Senekowitsch, well known for his spells at Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, was appointed manager. The constant changes of manager also affected the performance of the team. The team finished in third place, level on points with AEL and 5 points behind the Olympiacos.^[4] Thomas Mavros emerged as the club's top scorer in the league with 19 goals.^[5]

In the Cup, AEK started the tournament sluggishly, eliminating Kilkisiakos by 2–1 at Kilkis for the first round, but from that moment on, the path became easier. For the round of 32 they eliminated Panserraikos by 4–2 at home. Afterwards they easily overcame Irodotos at the round of 16 with wins at both legs and in the quarter-finals they faced Olympiacos. In the first leg at Nea Filadelfeia, Olympiacos took the lead early on, but AEK played with passion, took the initiative and in the second half, they turned the match with two goals by Mavros. At the rematch, the red and whites came out strong and were creating a lot of chances, even hitting the woodwork twice, however as the match progressed, the yellow-blacks improved their performance and in the final 15 minutes they took the lead with Mavros. Nothing changed until the final whistle, with AEK securing qualification after winning both legs against their rivals. In the semi-finals AEK's opponent was Iraklis. In the first game of Thessaloniki, AEK were terrible and found themselves losing by 3–0 in the opening minutes of the second half, only managing to reduce to 3–1 with Kottis. In a packed AEK Stadium at the rematch, the yellow-blacks started the match determined and scored the two goals they needed to qualify early in the game. The pace of the match dropped and AEK eventually booked their place in the final. AEK's opponents in the final were PAOK, at the newly built Olympic Stadium which was packed. AEK appeared passionate and disciplined, however PAOK with their offensive game, created several goalscoring chances. Nevertheless, the yellow-blacks were more clinical and took the lead in the first half with Mavros. While the match was coming to its end, AEK doubled their lead with their young captain, Vlachos and sealed a 2–0 victory that gave them the trophy.^[6][7] There were also incidents inside and outside the stadium between supporters of both sides, with the damage to the stadium being divided for payment between the HFF, AEK and PAOK.^[8]