The 2001–02 season was the 78th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 43rd consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup and the UEFA Cup. The season began on 6 August 2001 and finished on 8 May 2002.
Kits
Overview
The summer of 2001 found AEK Athens once again in the midst of great administrative and financial problems. The multinationals ENIC and Netmed were searching all summer for interested parties to buy the or take over the management of the club. Eventually, the controversial businessman and well known from his past in the basketball team, Chrarilaos Psomiadis, through the company "Ippoventure", became the new boss of AEK. Psomiadis initially put in the position of president his friend and businessman, Filon Antonopoulos and later his cousin, Charilaos. In the competitive part, however, Psomiadis seemed to be quite capable, as he brought Fernando Santos as the new manager and signed the Paraguayan international defender, Carlos Gamarra, on loan from Flamengo.
AEK started the championship well and from an outsider they slowly became a favorite for the title, with Santos demonstrating a disciplined and well-done team. However, 3 consecutive defeats in January suddenly made the situation very difficult and the first problems in the Psomiadis-Santos relations begun. Nevertheless, the team continued well and competed with Olympiacos for the title until the end. Eventually, on 20 April, in a match that was deemed as "final" for the penultimate matchday at the Olympic Stadium, Olympiacos won by 4–3 and conclusively AEK lost the title in a draw with 58 points each.
In the first round of the UEFA Cup, AEK had a theoretically easy task, having to face the weak Grevenmacher from Luxembourg. The first match took place at Nea Filadelfeia and AEK were storming. The 2 goals in the first half by Tsiartas and Zagorakis and another 4 in the second half by Nikolaidis, Lakis and Konstantinidis, gave an impressive victory to the yellow-blacks. The crowd was extremely satisfied and the rematch was of a formal procedure. In the rematch in Luxembourg AEK didn't struggle at all with 1 goal in each half with Lakis and Konstantinidis, while also missing plenty of chances. The majority of AEK's fans at the stadium was remarkable. In the second round, AEK found the obstacle of the Scottish Hibernian. The first match was played in Athens and in front of about 18,000 people, AEK won a penalty with Georgeas at the 55th minute and Tsiartas capitalized on it. In the 68th minute, a header by Nikolaidis made it 2–0 and gave AEK a good score for the second match. It was worth noting that with this goal, Demis Nikolaidis reached 17 goals for the UEFA Cup and became the Greek top scorer of all time for this competition. At the Easter Road, Hibernian pressed AEK, who were lucky to draw the first half 0–0. However, in the second half, 2 goals by Luna equalized the score of the first match and the game went to extra-time, where Tsiartas showed his class and with 2 personal goals with a shot and a direct corner kick, gave AEK the qualification. All the Scots managed to do was to score a third goal 5 minutes before the end of extra-time, getting an honorable victory with 3–2. In the third round, the draw again favored AEK, who found in front of them another "passable" opponent, the Croatian Osijek. In the first match in Croatia, AEK entered the game strongly and took the lead in the 12th minute with Zagorakis, while in the 70th minute Nikolaidis made it 0–2, but immediately after that the Croatians reduced it to 1–2. AEK kept the score in their favor until the end and was the clear favorite for qualification. In the second leg in Athens, AEK soon found themselves behind with a 15th-minute own goal by Ferrugem, but turned the score around to be leveled by the Osijek at 2–2 before half-time. Eventually, a goal by Konstantinidis in the 79th minute, gave the yellow-blacks the qualification. In the next round, another theoretically passable opponent was drawn against AEK, the Bulgarian Litex Lovech. The first match took place at Nikos Goumas Stadium and AEK came in impressively from the start and scoring 3 goals by the 23rd minute and with the Bulgarians reducing it to 3–1 in the 30th minute. In the second half, AEK conceded another goal for the final 3–2 and the Bulgarians to re-enter the qualification game. In the rematch in frozen Lovech, AEK were called upon to qualify in a match that took place in very difficult weather conditions. A goal by their top player in the match, Gamarra, at the 6th minute, brought AEK very close to the qualification, who even though conceding a goal at the end of the match, had already qualified. AEK reached the round of 16 of the institution and the margins for passable draws were narrowed. They were eventually drawn with the mighty Internazionale and things became extremely difficult. The first match at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza started impressively for AEK, who took the lead in the 8th minute with a great shot by Zagorakis. However, the Italian team quickly recovered and with two goals from Zanetti and Kallon made it 2–1 before the break, while their superiority was then sealed with another goal in the 56th minute from Ventola. The rematch was indeed difficult. In a packed Nikos Goumas Stadium, AEK tried to press, but in their first chance of Inter conceded a goal with free-kick by Greško at the 20th minute. AEK equalized after 3 minutes with a header by Konstantinidis and overturned the score with Nikolaidis at the 56th minute making the crowd heated as it brought the team just one goal away from extra-time, but the experienced and quality Italians immediately equalized with Ventola, which shaped the final 2–2. AEK's European course ended there, with an elimination with their "heads up".
In the Cup, AEK initially qualified by playing in a group with Panserraikos, Egaleo, and Nafpaktiakos Asteras. After an easy qualification over Agios Nikolaos, their next opponent were Kilkisiakos with the yellow-blacks achieving an even easier qualification. In the quarter-finals, AEK faced PAOK. In the first leg of Nikos Goumas Stadium, AEK prevailed with 2–1, while in the second leg of Toumba Stadium seemed difficult, but in the end it turned out to be a "strawl" as the yellow-blacks won by 0–4. In the semi-finals, AEK were drawn against Skoda Xanthi. The first match at Xanthi ended with 0–0 and AEK seemed as the favorite for the rematch. In the end, the Xanthi team proved to be "tougher", the match ended 0–0 and went to extra-time. There, however, a goal by Ilija Ivić in the 106th minute gave AEK the qualification for the final, against Olympiacos. The cup final took place a week after the "championship final" and beyond its given importance, it was AEK's opportunity for a revenge. The match was very strong from the start and despite the chances, the first-half ended 0–0. In the 51st minute, Nikolaidis won a penalty, Tsiartas executed it, the ball hit the two posts, reached Nikolaidis who shot, and after going against the body of Konstantinidis, ended up in the net. Olympiacos then pushed for the equalizer and eventually succeeded at the 70th minute with a header by Giovanni, who was sent-off 9 minutes later for an unsportsmanlike hit on Konstantinidis. At the 81st minute, Ivić entered the match and 2 minutes later, after a foul by Tsiartas, he scored the winning goal with a header and AEK won the title.
The top scorer of the season for the yellow-blacks in the Championship was Nikolaidis with 17 goals, while Tsiartas also scored 16 goals. The presence of Gamarra in defense was also noteworthy.
Management team
Players
Squad information
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 8 May 2002, 23:59 UTC+3.
No.PlayerNat.Position(s)Date of birth (Age)SignedPrevious clubTransfer feeContract until Goalkeepers 1 Ilias Atmatsidis GK 1992 Pontioi Veria €120,000 2002 22 Dionysis Chiotis GK 1995 AEK Athens U20 — 2005 27 Sotiris Liberopoulos GK 2001 Kalamata Free 2005 Defenders 3 Ferrugem CB / DM 2000 Palmeiras Free 2005 4 Carlos Gamarra CB 2001 Flamengo €600,000 2002 5 Nikos Kostenoglou (Vice-captain) CB / RB 1994 Skoda Xanthi €200,000 2003 12 Georgios Xenidis LB / CB 2002 Iraklis Free 2004 15 Éric Rabésandratana CB / DM 2001 Paris Saint-Germain €1,800,000 2004 16 Nikolaos Georgeas RB / LB / DM 2001 Kalamata €1,500,000 2004 17 Michalis Kasapis LB / LM 1993 Levadiakos €75,000 2006 21 Vaios Karagiannis LB / CB 1990 A.O. Karditsa €35,000 2002 25 Stathis Kappos RB 2001 Kalamata Free 2005 32 Michalis Kapsis CB 1999 Ethnikos Piraeus €250,000 2003 39 Grigoris Toskas CB 2000 AEK Athens U20 — 2005 Midfielders 6 Theodoros Zagorakis (Captain) CM / DM / AM / RM / CB / RB 2000 Leicester City Free 2003 7 Christos Maladenis CM / RM / LM / AM / DM / RW / LW / SS 1995 Skoda Xanthi €300,000 2003 10 Vasilios Tsiartas (Vice-captain 2) AM / RM / LM / SS 2000 Sevilla €3,500,000 2003 14 Akis Zikos DM / CM 1998 Skoda Xanthi €700,000 2006 18 Giorgos Passios DM / CM / CB 1997 AEK Athens U20 — 2003 19 Bledar Kola LM / CM / DM / LB 2001 Panathinaikos Free 2003 23 Vasilios Lakis RM / RW / AM / CM / RB 1998 Paniliakos €1,000,000 2003 28 Milen Petkov DM / CM / AM / RM / LM 2000 CSKA Sofia €800,000 2003 33 Fernando Navas LM / AM / RM 2000 Boca Juniors €2,000,000 2005 41 Dimitris Karameris CM / DM 2000 AEK Athens U20 — 2005 Forwards 11 Demis Nikolaidis ST / SS 1996 Apollon Athens €1,000,000 2004 20 Sotiris Konstantinidis RW / LW / RM / LM / AM 1999 Iraklis Free 2004 24 Christos Kostis SS / ST / AM / RW / LW 2000 Anderlecht Free 2002 26 António Folha LW / LM / AM 2002 Porto Free 2002 30 Ilija Ivić ST / LW 2002 Aris Free 2005 Left during Winter Transfer Window 2 Maricá RB 2001 Vasco da Gama Free 2002 9 Grzegorz Mielcarski ST 2001 Pogoń Szczecin Free 2003 29 Ilias Anastasakos ST / LW / LM 1995 A.O. Dafniou Free 2002 31 Georgios Trichias RW / ST 2001 Niki Volos Free 2005
Transfers
In
Summer
PlayerFromFeeDateContract UntilSource9 Pogoń SzczecinFree transfer30 June 200315 Paris Saint-Germain€1,800,00030 June 200425 KalamataFree transfer30 June 200527 KalamataFree transfer30 June 200529 KalamataLoan return30 June 200231 PanetolikosLoan return31 December 2005— KilkisiakosLoan return30 June 2001— PanioniosLoan return30 June 2001— AthinaikosLoan return30 June 2005— KalamataLoan return30 June 2001— Agios NikolaosLoan return30 June 2001— KalamataLoan return30 June 2003
Winter
PlayerFromFeeDateContract UntilSource12 IraklisFree transfer30 June 200430 ArisFree transfer30 June 200533 ArisLoan return30 June 2004
Out
Summer
PlayerToFeeDateSource2 PerugiaContract termination12 EgaleoContract termination27 Boca JuniorsLoan return— ArisEnd of contract— AthinaikosEnd of contract— Boca JuniorsLoan return— TrikalaEnd of contract— Apollon LimassolContract termination
Winter
PlayerToFeeDateSource2 Vasco da GamaLoan termination9 Amica WronkiContract termination29 AthinaikosContract termination
Loan in
Summer
PlayerFromFeeDateUntilOption to buySource2 Vasco da GamaFree30 June 20024 Flamengo€600,00030 June 2002
Winter
PlayerFromFeeDateUntilOption to buySource26 PortoFree30 June 2002
Loan out
Summer
PlayerToFeeDateUntilOption to buySource15 Ethnikos AsterasFree30 June 200231 MarkoFree30 June 200230 Unión Santa FeFree30 June 2002— Apollon SmyrnisFree30 June 2002
Winter
PlayerToFeeDateUntilOption to buySource31 Apollon SmyrnisFree30 June 200233 ArisFree30 June 2002
Contract renewals
PlayerDateFormer Exp. DateNew Exp. DateSource14 30 June 200230 June 200617 30 June 200230 June 200621 30 June 200130 June 200224 30 June 200130 June 2002
Overall transfer activity
Expenditure Summer: €2,400,000
Winter: €0
Total: €2,400,000
Income Summer: €0
Winter: €0
Total: €0
Net Totals Summer: €2,400,000
Winter: €0
Total: €2,400,000