The 2004 Greek Cup final was the 60th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 8 May 2004 at Nea Smyrni Stadium. The contesting teams were Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. It was Panathinaikos' twenty sixth Greek Cup final in their 96 years of existence and Olympiacos' thirtieth Greek Cup final in their 79-year history. The final was originally scheduled to take place at the Pampeloponnisiako Stadium in Patras, but at the last minute the approval for its performance was not given after the refusal of the Achaia Police Department, for fear of provoking incidents by the fans of both teams and even a few months before the Olympic Games, and Patras was among the Olympic cities. Finally, following recommendations from the Minister of Public Order, Giorgos Voulgarakis, that the final should be held within the Attica Basin for the best possible policing, it was decided to take place at the Nea Smyrni Stadium, as the Olympic Stadium, due to upcoming games, was in the final phase of its reconstruction. Initially, the mayor of Nea Smyrni and president of the amateur Panionios, George Koutelakis, expressed his opposition and refusal to concede the stadium and for security reasons the number of tickets available for sale was limited.
Venue
This was the first Greek Cup final held at Nea Smyrni Stadium.
Nea Smyrni Stadium was built in 1939 and was renovated twice, in 2001 and 2003. The stadium is used as a venue for Panionios. Its current capacity is 11,342.
Background Panathinaikos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty five times, winning fifteen of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 1995 (1–0 against AEK Athens). The last time they had played in a final was in 1999, where they had lost to Olympiacos by 2–0.
Olympiacos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty nine times, winning twenty of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 1999 (2–0 against Panathinaikos). The last time they had played in a final was in 2002, where they had lost to AEK Athens by 2–1.
The two teams had met each other in a Cup final ten times in the 1960, 1962, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1975, 1986, 1988, 1993 and 1999 finals.
Route to the final
PanathinaikosRoundOlympiacosOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd leg Niki Volos 3–1 2–0 (H) 1–1 (A) First round Vyzas Megara 6–1 2–0 (H) 4–1 (A) Bye Second round Ergotelis 6–3 3–2 (H) 3–1 (A) OFI 2–1 1–0 (H) 1–1 (A) Round of 16 Skoda Xanthi 3–0 1–0 (H) 2–0 (A) Patraikos 3–1 1–0 (A) 2–1 (H) Quarter-finals Panionios 1–0 1–0 (H) 0–0 (A) AEK Athens 3–2 2–2 (H) 1–0 (A) Semi-finals Kastoria 4–1 3–0 (A) 1–1 (H)
Match Details
GK 12 Kostas ChalkiasRB 5 Giourkas Seitaridis CB 8 Giannis GoumasCB 2 René HenriksenCB 3 Nasief MorrisLB 6 Markus MünchDM 20 Angelos Basinas (c) DM 35 Jan Michaelsen AM 40 Ezequiel González CF 11 Dimitrios Papadopoulos CF 19 Michalis KonstantinouSubstitutes:GK 33 Stefanos KotsolisDF 24 Loukas Vyntra MF 14 Raimondas Žutautas MF 18 Lucian SânmărteanMF 22 Miltiadis Sapanis MF 27 Pantelis KonstantinidisFW 7 Goran VlaovićManager: Itzhak Shum GK 34 Kleopas GiannouRB 30 Anastasios PantosCB 25 Spyros Vallas CB 32 Georgios Anatolakis LB 3 Stylianos Venetidis DM 6 Ieroklis StoltidisDM 5 Christian KarembeuRM 71 Grigoris Georgatos LM 11 Predrag Đorđević (c)SS 10 GiovanniCF 7 Nery Castillo Substitutes:GK 22 Fanis KatergiannakisDF 14 Dimitrios Mavrogenidis DF 19 Athanasios KostoulasMF 1 Pantelis KafesMF 31 Georgios GeorgiadisFW 9 Lambros Choutos FW 21 Marcin Kuźba Manager: Nikos Alefantos Man of the Match: Michalis Konstantinou (Panathinaikos)
Assistant referees: Giorgos Papadopoulos (Thessaloniki) Dimitris Tsortanidis (Achaea)Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions
See also 2003–04 Greek Football Cup
References