The 2019–20 Super League Greece was the 84th season of the Super League, the top Greek professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1959.
The season marks the first year that the league that included a Play-off Round, whereby the top six teams at the conclusion of the regular season played each other exclusively to determine the league champion. The rest of the teams played each other in a Play-out Round to determine the relegation positions.
The season was suspended on 13 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece, then resumed on 5 June 2020.
During the championship, the multi-ownership scandal broke out between PAOK and Xanthi. The ESA (Professional Sports Committee) considered the case serious, which meant the automatic relegation of the two teams. The government brought an extraordinary amendment to the parliament under the pretext of splitting social cohesion. The amendment provided for the deduction of 5 to 10 points from those who violate the law on multi-ownership in Greek football by acquiring shares of another football club. On July 30, the HFF removed article 30 that referred to multi-ownership cases, an act which, as it turned out, was intended to cover the acquisition of Xanthi by PAOK.
Olympiacos won the championship for the 45th time. They also finished undefeated in the 26 games of the regular season of the league and remained undefeated in the first 7 games of the final phase of the playoffs, until losing the 8th game of the playoffs (0–1 to PAOK). They also achieved a record of the best defence in the regular season with just 9 goals conceded.
Xanthi were relegated to Super League 2 after play-off matches, while Panionios were relegated to the Gamma Ethniki, while the Super League 2 champion, PAS Giannina and play-off winner, Apollon Smyrnis were promoted.
Multi-ownership PAOK - Xanthi In December 2019, Olympiacos appealed to the Professional Sports Committee to clarify the relationship between PAOK and Xanthi after TV channel One (owned by Marinakis) reported that the Cypriot company RfA that had acquired Xanthi's assets (stadium and training center) appeared to be "linked" to Ivan Savvidis' nephew, Ioannis Kalpazidis. The Professional Sports Committee accepted the evidence presented by Olympiacos and decided to recommend to the competent judicial body the revocation of both PAOK's and Xanthi's certificates of participation in the championship and, consequently, their exclusion from the championship. PCS referred the case to the sports judge and asked for the penalty of relegation.
The Deputy Sports Minister, Lefteris Avgenakis, commented negatively on the prospect of relegation.
The management of PAOK and their supporters were outraged by the decision, accusing Avgenakis of methodically setting up the committee, while protests and negative statements were also made by related individuals and organisations. For instance, former player and president of PAOK, Theodoros Zagorakis, who was MEP for ND at the time, was expelled from the parliamentary Eurogroup when he threatened to become independent if the decisions of the PCS were accepted.
The Greek government, afraid of a generalised reaction and as PAOK fans had started a series of protests, submitted an amendment on 6 February 2020 in order to prevent the sports judge's ruling. It changed the penalty for multiple ownership by abolishing relegation and imposing a deduction of 5 to 10 points.
The amendment was passed with 156 votes in favour, while the parties the Movement for Change, KKE, Greek Solution and MeRA25 abstained from the vote in protest of the legislation, which was rushed through in order to serve certain interests.
The disciplinary committee of the HFF decided to punish PAOK and Xanthi by deducting 7 points from the former and 12 from the latter.
However, both Olympiacos and PAOK appealed to CAS against the decision of the HFF, with Olympiacos requesting the relegation of the latter and PAOK seeking their acquittal After both appeals, CAS decided that the 7 points should be returned to PAOK and referred the case back to the Appeals Committee of the HFF with the footnote that it should decide on the merits of the case without being bound by the conclusion of the CSP.
Eventually, on 9 February 2021, PAOK were fully acquitted by a decision of the Appeals Committee of the HFF. For Xanthi, however, there was no change in the decision, as the team did not appeal to the CAS.
Teams Fourteen teams competed in the league – the top twelve teams from the previous season, the previous season's play-off winner and one team promoted from the Football League. The promoted team was Volos. They replaced PAS Giannina, Levadiakos (both teams relegated after eight seasons in the league) and Apollon Smyrnis (relegated after two seasons in the top flight).
Promoted from2018–19 Football League Relegated from2018–19 Super League Greece Volos PAS GianninaApollon SmyrnisLevadiakos
Stadiums and locations
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
+TeamLocationStadiumCapacity2018–19 AEK Athens Athens Athens Olympic Stadium 69,618 3rd AEL Larissa AEL FC Arena 16,118 10th Aris Thessaloniki Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium 22,800 5th Asteras Tripolis Tripoli Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium 7,442 11th Atromitos Athens Peristeri Stadium 10,050 4th Lamia Lamia Lamia Municipal Stadium 5,500 7th OFI Heraklion Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium 9,088 13th Olympiacos Piraeus Karaiskakis Stadium 32,115 2nd Panathinaikos Athens Leoforos Alexandras Stadium 16,003 8th Panetolikos Agrinio Panetolikos Stadium 7,321 9th Panionios Athens Nea Smyrni Stadium 11,700 6th PAOK Thessaloniki Toumba Stadium 28,703 1st Volos Volos Panthessaliko Stadium 22,700 1st (FL) Xanthi Xanthi Xanthi FC Arena 7,244 12th
Personnel, kits and TV channel Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Broadcast Channel AEK Athens Massimo Carrera Petros MantalosCapelli Pame StoiximaNova SportsAEL Michalis Grigoriou Vangelis Moras Legea Thrakis GefseisAris Michael Oenning Georgios Delizisis Nike betshop.grAsteras Tripolis Milan Rastavac Walter Iglesias Macron InterwettenAtromitos Savvas Pantelidis Javier Umbides Nike betshop.grERTLamia Giorgos Petrakis Vanderson Macron N/AOFI Georgios Simos Anestis Nastos PumaStoiximan.grNova SportsOlympiacos Pedro Martins Andreas Bouchalakis AdidasPanathinaikos Georgios Donis Dimitrios Kourbelis Kappa Pame StoiximaPanetolikos Makis Chavos Jorge Díaz Givova N/A ERTPanionios Leonidas Vokolos Panagiotis Korbos Luanvi Car.gr Nova SportsPAOK Abel Ferreira Vieirinha Macron Stoiximan.gr PAOK TVVolos Stefanos Xirofotos Stergios Dimopoulos Luanvi EBOL Nova SportsXanthi Nikos Karageorgiou Dimos Baxevanidis Joma thefoodballer ERT
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentPanetolikos Traianos DellasResigned19 April 2019Pre-season Luís Castro30 May 2019Atromitos Damir CanadiEnd of contract5 May 2019 Giannis Anastasiou24 May 2019AEL Gianluca FestaResigned7 May 2019 Gordan Petrić12 May 2019Asteras Tripolis Georgios ParaschosMutual consent17 May 2019 Borja Jiménez7 July 2019Xanthi Milan RastavacMutual consent18 May 2019 Kiko Ramírez20 May 2019AEK Athens Manolo JiménezMutual consent27 May 2019 Miguel Cardoso28 May 2019PAOK Răzvan LucescuResigned28 June 2019 Abel Ferreira1 July 2019OFI Jaime VeraMutual consent29 June 2019 Georgios Simos12 July 2019Lamia Makis ChavosMutual consent4 August 2019 Sotiris Antoniou6 August 2019AEL Gordan PetrićMutual consent8 August 2019 Michalis Grigoriou8 August 2019AEK Athens Miguel CardosoSacked25 August 201911th Nikos Kostenoglou26 August 2019Aris Savvas PantelidisResigned31 August 20199th Apostolos Terzis (caretaker)10 September 2019Panionios Akis MantziosMutual consent2 September 201914th Nikki Papavasiliou3 September 2019Aris Apostolos Terzis (caretaker)End of tenure as caretaker8 October 20199th Michael Oenning12 October 2019 Panetolikos Luís CastroSacked14 October 201913th Makis Chavos15 October 2019Lamia Sotiris AntoniouSacked24 October 201912th Akis Mantzios25 October 2019Atromitos Giannis AnastasiouSacked16 November 201910th Georgios Korakakis (caretaker)18 November 2019Xanthi Kiko RamírezSacked25 November 20196th Tasos Sideridis (caretaker)26 November 2019Asteras Tripolis Borja JiménezSacked4 December 201912th Milan Rastavac5 December 2019Atromitos Georgios Korakakis (caretaker)End of tenure as caretaker5 December 20199th Savvas Pantelidis5 December 2019Xanthi Tasos Sideridis (caretaker)End of tenure as caretaker7 December 20194th Georgios Paraschos8 December 2019AEK Athens Nikos KostenoglouMutual consent8 December 20193rd Massimo Carrera8 December 2019Volos Juan FerrandoResigned 2 January 202011th Alberto Gallego5 January 2020Panionios Nikki PapavasiliouResigned 19 February 202014th Dimitris Koropoulis (caretaker)20 February 2020Panionios Dimitris Koropoulis (caretaker)End of tenure as caretaker25 February 202014th Leonidas Vokolos26 February 2020Volos Alberto GallegoSacked25 February 202012th Stefanos Xirofotos26 February 2020Xanthi Georgios ParaschosSacked6 March 20209th Nikos Karageorgiou7 March 2020Lamia Akis MantziosSacked25 June 202010th Giorgos Petrakis25 June 2020
Regular season
League table
Results
Positions by round
The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. To preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards.
Play-off round The top six teams from Regular season will meet twice (10 matches per team) for places in 2020–21 UEFA Champions League and 2020–21 UEFA Europa League as well as deciding the league champion.
Play-off round positions by round
Play-out round
Play-out round positions by round
Relegation play-offs
|+Summary
Apollon Smyrnis won 4–1 on aggregate and were promoted to 2020–21 Super League. Xanthi were relegated to 2020–21 Super League 2.
Season statistics
Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Youssef El-ArabiOlympiacos202 Nélson OliveiraAEK Athens14 Giorgos ManousosAtromitos Federico MachedaPanathinaikos3 Bruno GamaAris124 Karol ŚwiderskiPAOK11 Jerónimo BarralesAsteras Tripolis João FigueiredoOFI5 Luis FernándezAsteras Tripolis106 Marko LivajaAEK Athens9 Radomir MilosavljevićAEL Georgios MasourasOlympiacos
Top assists
RankPlayerClubAssists1 Mathieu ValbuenaOlympiacos132 Petros MantalosAEK Athens123 Giannis FetfatzidisAris94 Josip MišićPAOK8 Marko LivajaAEK Athens Youssef El-ArabiOlympiacos5 Kosmas TsilianidisOFI7 Farley RosaPanetolikos Adrián RieraAsteras Tripolis Dimitrios LimniosPAOK
Awards
NIVEA MEN Player of the Month
Month Player Club Ref August Nélson Oliveira AEK Athens September Mathieu Valbuena Olympiacos October Hillal Soudani November Daniel Larsson Aris December Nélson Oliveira AEK Athens January Youssef El-Arabi Olympiacos February Nenad Krstičić AEK Athens June Marko Livaja July Ahmed Hassan Olympiacos
NIVEA MEN Player of the Club
Club MVP Ref Olympiacos Youssef El-Arabi PAOK Josip Mišić AEK Athens Marko Livaja Panathinaikos Anastasios Chatzigiovanis OFI João Figueiredo Aris Giannis Fetfatzidis Atromitos Giorgos Manousos AEL Ögmundur Kristinsson Asteras Tripolis Jerónimo Barrales Lamia Danny Bejarano Volos Antonis Dentakis Xanthi Carlos Abad Panetolikos Farley Rosa Panionios Bachana Arabuli
NIVEA MEN Player of the Regular season
Player Club Votes Ref Marko Livaja AEK Athens 27.54%
NIVEA MEN Best Goal of the Regular season
Player Club Match Votes Ref Apostolos Vellios Atromitos vs Lamia 2–2 (Matchday 2) 35.96%
NIVEA MEN Best Goal