The 2001 Greek Cup final was the 57th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 12 May 2001 at Nikos Goumas Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and PAOK. It was Olympiacos' twenty-ninth Greek Cup final in their 76 years of existence and PAOK's fifteenth Greek Cup final in their 75-year history. A draw was preceded on 19 April to determine in which stadium/city the final would be hosted: Nikos Goumas Stadium in Athens or Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki. Several days before the game, Olympiacos president Sokratis Kokkalis made a memorable statement using a Greek expression that Olympiacos would lose the upcoming final only if "the devil broke his leg", meaning that it was almost impossible for his team to lose. However, PAOK won the match by 4–2 with an impressive performance and earned the trophy 27 years after their last success, in the same stadium and against the same opponent. During the awarding ceremony, former goalkeeper and member of the coaching staff of PAOK, Mladen Furtula whispered to Kokkalis that the devil indeed broke his leg that day and the latter responded with a laugh. The manager of PAOK, Dušan Bajević became the first in history to win the trophy with three different clubs, as he had previously won it in 1996 with AEK Athens and in 1999 with Olympiacos.

Venue This was the eighth Greek Cup final held at Nikos Goumas Stadium, after the 1962, 1967, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1981 and 1982 finals.

Nikos Goumas Stadium was built in 1930 and it has been renovated twice, in 1979 and 1998. The stadium is used as a venue for AEK Athens and was used for Greece on various occasions. Its current capacity is 28,729.

Background Olympiacos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty seven times, winning twenty of them. The last time that they had played in a final was in 1999, where they had won against Panathinaikos by 2–0.

PAOK had reached the Greek Cup final fourteen times, winning two of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 1974 (4–3 on penalties, which came after a 2–2 draw at the end of the extra time against Olympiacos). The last time that they had played in a final was in 1992, where they had lost to Olympiacos by 3–1 on aggregate (1–1 at Toumba Stadium and 2–0 at Karaiskakis Stadium).

The two teams had met each other in a Cup final six times in the 1951, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1981 and 1992 finals.

Route to the final

OlympiacosRoundPAOKOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResultPatraikos4–0 (H)Matchday 1Atromitos1–0 (H)Anagennisi Karditsa2–0 (A)Matchday 2A.S. Ampelokipoi6–1 (A)Ethnikos Asteras4–1 (A)Matchday 3Kavala5–1 (A)Egaleo4–1 (H)Matchday 4Panachaiki2–0 (H)Trikala5–3 (A)Matchday 5Nafpaktiakos Asteras3–3 (A)Patraikos4–1 (A)Matchday 6Atromitos2–1 (A)Anagennisi Karditsa7–0 (H)Matchday 7A.S. Ampelokipoi6–1 (H)Ethnikos Asteras5–0 (H)Matchday 8Kavala3–1 (H)Egaleo0–3 (A)Matchday 9Panachaiki3–2 (A)Trikala4–0 (H)Matchday 10Nafpaktiakos Asteras4–0 (H)Group 5 winnersFinal standingsGroup 4 winnersOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legKnockout phaseOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd leg ByeAdditional round ByeAEK Athens8–12–0 () (A)6–1 (H)Round of 16Aris3–11–1 (A)2–0 (H)Panathinaikos5–21–1 (H)4–1 (A)Quarter-finalsSkoda Xanthi4–12–0 (H)2–1 (A)Iraklis6–41–0 (A)5–4 (H)Semi-finalsApollon Athens5–35–2 (H)0–1 (A)

Match Details

GK 31 Dimitrios EleftheropoulosRB 14 Dimitrios Mavrogenidis  CB 19 Athanasios KostoulasCB 32 Georgios Anatolakis LB 21 Grigoris Georgatos  DM 13 Zé EliasCM  4 Andreas Niniadis  RM  7 Stelios GiannakopoulosLM 11 Predrag ĐorđevićSS 10 GiovanniCF 30 Alexis Alexandris (c)Substitutes:GK  1 Angelos GeorgiouDF  2 Christos Patsatzoglou  DF  3 Kyriakos KarataidisMF  6 Ilias PoursanidisMF  8 Luciano  MF 20 Pär ZetterbergFW 9 Lampros Choutos  Manager: Takis Lemonis GK 16 Ante ČovićRB  2 Vasilios BorbokisCB 19 Koffi Amponsah  CB  4 Anastasios Katsabis (c)CB 24 Ifeanyi Udeze LB  3 Stylianos Venetidis CM 28 Pantelis KafesRM 30 Panagiotis Engomitis LM 11 Pantelis KonstantinidisCF 21 Giorgos Georgiadis  CF 22 Ioannis Okkas  Substitutes:GK 26 Apostolos PapadopoulosDF 14 Loukas KaradimosDF 23 Dionysis ChasiotisDF 25 Georgios Koulakiotis  MF 42 Guy FeutchineFW  8 Slađan Spasić  FW 20 Dimitris Nalitzis  Manager: Dušan Bajević Man of the Match: Panagiotis Engomitis (PAOK)

Assistant referees: Andreas Zisis (Corinthia) Apostolos Kourkounas (Chania)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 2000–01 Greek Football Cup

References