The 2017 Greek Cup final was the 73rd final of the Greek Cup. It took place on 6 May 2017 at Panthessaliko Stadium. The contesting teams were PAOK and AEK Athens. It was PAOK's eighteenth Greek Cup final in their 91 years of existence and AEK Athens' twenty second Greek Cup final and second consecutive, of their 93-year history. The HFF announcement for the 2016–17 Greek Cup mentioned the Olympic Stadium as the host for the final, but PAOK had clarified that they did not want to play at AEK Athens' home stadium, suggesting the Pankritio Stadium, however, the Federation chose the Panthessaliko Stadium. It was a stadium that until the completion of the semi-finals, did not actually exist on the table. The people of Thessaly Football Clubs Association quickly made the decision to submit a file after the qualification of PAOK to the final. In fact, within two hours, they tilted the plate in favor of conducting the game in their area, submitting a complete file. So it was decided that the final would take place at Volos with fans of both clubs and special constructions for the security in the conduction of the match. However, the match was marked by incidents between the fans of both clubs in the streets, inside and outside the stadium, where also was an invasion on the pitch by PAOK fans before the beginning of the match which resulted in punishment on both clubs for the next season.
Venue
This was the second Greek Cup final held at Panthessaliko Stadium after the 2007 final.
Panthessaliko Stadium was built in 2004. The stadium is used as a venue for Niki Volos and Volos. Its current capacity is 22,189.
Background PAOK had reached the Greek Cup final seventeen times, winning four of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 2003 (1–0 against Aris). The last time that had played in a final was in 2014, where they had lost to Panathinaikos by 4–1.
AEK Athens had reached the Greek Cup final twenty one times, winning fourteen of them. The last time that they had played in a final was in 2016, where they had won against Olympiacos by 2–1.
The two teams had met each other in a Cup final three times in the 1939, 1978 and 1983 finals.
Route to the final
PAOKRoundAEK AthensOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResultAEL2–0 (H)Matchday 1Kerkyra4–0 (H)Trikala0–0 (A)Matchday 2Anagennisi Karditsa2–2 (H)Panelefsiniakos7–0 (A)Matchday 3Lamia0–0 (A)Group A winnersFinal standingsGroup F winnersOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legKnockout phaseOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legPanetolikos6–12–0 (A)4–1 (H)Round of 16Levadiakos7–01–0 (A)6–0 (H)Xanthi2–2 (a)2–1 (A)0–1 (H)Quarter-finalsPlatanias3–00–0 (A)3–0 (H)Panathinaikos4–20–2 (A)4–0 (H)Semi-finalsOlympiacos2–2 (a)2–1 (A)0–1 (H)
Match
Details
GK 71 Panagiotis Glykos (c) RB 3 Léo Matos CB 15 José Ángel Crespo CB 43 Fernando Varela LB 4 Marin Leovac DM 87 José Cañas CM 28 Yevhen Shakhov CM 16 Gojko Cimirot RW 10 Djalma Campos LW 21 Diego Biseswar CF 9 Aleksandar Prijović Substitutes:GK 99 Marios Siampanis DF 70 Stelios Kitsiou DF 13 Stelios Malezas MF 77 Dimitrios Pelkas FW 11 Pedro Henrique FW 40 Nikolas Mattheou FW 33 Stefanos Athanasiadis Manager: Vladimir Ivić GK 22 Giannis AnestisRB 12 Rodrigo Galo CB 4 Ognjen Vranješ CB 19 Dmytro Chyhrynskyi LB 23 Dídac Vilà DM 18 Jakob Johansson DM 8 André Simões RM 7 Lazaros Christodoulopoulos LM 29 Patito Rodríguez AM 20 Petros Mantalos (c)CF 11 Sergio Araujo Substitutes:GK 1 Vasilis Barkas DF 26 Dimitrios Kolovetsios MF 25 Konstantinos Galanopoulos MF 30 Ilias Tselios FW 10 Ronald Vargas FW 28 Anastasios Bakasetas FW 9 Hugo Almeida Manager: Manolo Jiménez Man of the Match: Diego Biseswar (PAOK)
Assistant referees: Christos Baltas (Achaea) Giorgos Kalfoglou (Thesprotia) Additional assistant referees: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (Dodecanese) Dimitris Thanos (Grevena) Fourth official: Charalambos Kalogeropoulos (Athens)Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions
References