The 1977–78 season was the 54th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 19th 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 11 September 1977 and finished on 4 June 1978.
Overview
AEK started the season on the back of their run to the previous season's UEFA Cup semi-finals, as well as the impressive football they had displayed throughout which reflected their determination to maintain the same level success. Loukas Barlos continued to strengthen the squad. The defender of Egaleo, Aris Damianidis, the Uruguayan midfielder Milton Viera from Olympiacos, the top scorer of last season's second division with AEL, Giannis Mousouris and most importantly the Yugoslav international striker, Dušan Bajević from Velež Mostar addressed the remaining weaknesses in the squad.
At the beginning of the season, tensions emerged between Barlos and Fadrhonc. Differences in football philosophy between the two men regarding the club's future became apparent, as Barlos wanted the strengthening of AEK with major singings, while the "grandfather" seemed to prefer the gradual strengthening of the squad through the club's academy, which he had under his supervision and had upgraded to a fairly high level.
Their differing philosophies ultimately led to Fadrhonc's dismissal after the away defeat against Olympiacos at the 2nd matchday. The Czech's assistant Andreas Stamatiadis served as interim manager for the next two games before the Yugoslav manager Zlatko Čajkovski was appointed. The so-called "Čik" as an ardent supporter of attractive attacking football, continued Fadrhonc's work and made excellent use of the squad.
In the UEFA Cup, AEK were drawn against the Romanian ASA Târgu Mureș, for the first round. AEK produced an underwhelming performance in Romania, which was largely due to the tragic condition of the pitch. It had rained heavily in the city for two consecutive days before the match, resulting in a waterlogged pitch. The Romanians took advantage of AEK's inability to display their technical ability on the pitch and not only did they defend effectively, but also won by 1–0. In the replay match, AEK were imposing and the match ended 3–0, while they lost many opportunities for more throughout the second half. In the second round, the draw paired AEK with Belgian side Standard Liège, which proved to be a difficult opponent and earned a draw at AEK stadium. The second leg began poorly for AEK, as they were left behind 1–0 by an own goal. The yellow-blacks managed to recover from the shock and they levelled the score, but the final half-hour saw AEK run out of energy and Standard Liège with momentum on their side and a slice of good fortune, scored three goals.
At the 15th matchday, the matches took place the day after Christmas and the footballers' union organised its first strike action, calling for a strike for that matchday, forcing clubs to compete with players from the amateur divisions and only foreign professionals. As the season progressed and Bajević recovered from injury, AEK became a prolific attacking side. Moreover, after the defeat in the 2nd match that brought about the dismissal of Fadrhonc, AEK were defeated only once. They scored 74 league goals, having the highest-scoring attack in the league, which they won by seven points from PAOK. Thomas Mavros was the league's top scorer with 22 goals, while in fourth place was Takis Nikoloudis with 15.
AEK's dominance was also was also reflected in the Greek Cup. Čajkovski's team seemed unstoppable as they eliminated AO Chania at home in the first round, Panathinaikos away in the second round and Panionios at home in the round of 16. In the quarter-finals, AEK defeated Panelefsiniakos away and advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced Olympiacos in Nea Filadelfeia. Olympiacos took an early lead, but the goal only inspired AEK who responded by scoring six unanswered goals. They completed their dominant Cup run by defeating PAOK 2–0 in the final and won the title, to complete the domestic double for the second time in their history after 39 years. Bajević emerged as the top scorer in the tournament with 9 goals.
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 4 June 1978, 23:59 UTC+3.
PlayerNat.Position(s)Date of birth (Age)SignedPrevious clubTransfer feeContract until Goalkeepers Nikos Christidis GK 1976 Aris ₯1,500,000 1984 Giorgos Sidiropoulos GK 1973 Trikala ₯1,800,000 1981 Lakis Stergioudas GK 1972 Niki Poligyrou ₯36,000 1981 Defenders Apostolos Toskas CB 1969 Trikala ₯1,500,000 1981 Lakis Nikolaou (Vice-captain) CB / RB / ST / RW 1971 Atromitos ₯600,000 1979 Babis Intzoglou RB / LB / CB 1976 Panionios ₯3,000,000 1984 Stefanos Theodoridis RB / LB / CB / RM / LM 1969 AEK Athens U20 — 1981 Giannis Mousouris RB / RM / ST 1977 AEL ₯2,500,000 1985 Petros Ravousis CB / RB 1972 Aetos Skydra Free 1981 Aris Damianidis CB / RB 1977 Egaleo ₯3,500,000 1985 Midfielders Milton Viera CM / DM 1977 Olympiacos Free 1979 Lazaros Papadopoulos RM / RB / LM / LB / RW / LW 1973 Veria ₯1,300,000 1981 Dionysis Tsamis CM / DM / AM 1972 Panetolikos ₯2,350,000 1981 Takis Nikoloudis CM / AM / RM / LM 1976 Iraklis Free 1984 Christos Ardizoglou RM / LM / RW / LW / AM / RB / LB 1974 Apollon Athens ₯12,000,000 1982 Giorgos Vlachonikolis AM / SS 1977 Ilisiakos ₯1,100,000 1985 Fotis Outsikas LM / LB / LW 1975 AEK Athens U20 — 1983 Giorgos Vlantis CM / AM 1976 AEK Athens U20 — 1984 Forwards Mimis Papaioannou (Captain) SS / ST / AM / RW 1962 Veria ₯175,000 1980 Dušan Bajević ST / SS 1977 Velež Mostar Free 1979 Tasos Konstantinou RW / SS / ST / RM / AM 1972 EPA Larnaca ₯600,000 1980 Thomas Mavros ST / LW 1976 Panionios ₯10,000,000 1983 From Reserve Squad Spyros Ikonomopoulos GK 1977 AO Akratas — Dimitris Alafogiannis GK 1976 Roma Primavera — Panagiotis Stylianopoulos RB / LB / RM / DM — AEK Athens U20 — Sokratis Kotidis CB / DM 1975 AEK Athens U20 — Takis Papatheodorou CB 1972 AEK Athens U20 — Theodoros Apostolopoulos RB / LB 1977 Chaidari — Christos Kalaitzidis LM / LW / LB 1973 PO.K.E. — Stefanos Kallinteroglou RW / LW 1970 AEK Athens U20 — Christos Saxanidis RW / LW / RB / LB 1975 AEK Athens U20 — Thomas Stafylas ST / RW / LW / RM / LM — AEK Athens U20 — Giannis Outsikas ST 1973 Pamisos Messini — Stefanos Zografos ST 1977 Vyzas Megara — Argyris Boulmetis ST — AEK Athens U20 —
Transfers
In
PlayerFromFeeDateContract Until – Greek and Cypriot professional footballers were bound to their clubs for eight years, effectively functioning as eight-year contracts.Source Egaleo₯3,500,00030 June 1985 AEL₯2,500,00030 June 1985 OlympiacosFree transfer30 June 1978 Ilisiakos₯1,100,00030 June 1985 Velež MostarFree transfer30 June 1979
Out
PlayerToFeeDateSource OFIContract termination PanioniosContract termination PanioniosContract termination ArisContract termination OFIContract termination
Contract renewals
PlayerDateFormer Exp. DateNew Exp. DateSource 30 June 197730 June 1981 30 June 197730 June 1981 30 June 197830 June 1979
Overall transfer activity
Expenditure: ₯7,100,000
Income: ₯0
Net Total: ₯7,100,000
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions
Overall record
Alpha Ethniki
League table
Results summary
Results by Matchday
Matches
Greek Cup
Matches
UEFA Cup
First round
Second round
Statistics
Squad statistics
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| From Reserve Squad
Goalscorers
The list is sorted by competition order when total goals are equal, then by position and then alphabetically by surname. RankPlayerAlpha EthnikiGreek CupUEFA CupTotal122 8 131215 1 1173 4 9 0134 9 1 0105 8 0 19 7 1 197 4 0 158 2 0 02 0 1 1210 1 0 01 1 0 01 0 1 01 1 0 01Own goals 0 0 00Totals 74 22 6102
Hat-tricks Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored. PlayerAgainst Result Date Competition Source Thomas Mavros Panachaiki 4–0 (H) 4 December 1977 Alpha Ethniki Dušan Bajević4 AO Chania 6–1 (A) 21 December 1977 Greek Cup Takis Nikoloudis Egaleo 4–2 (Α) 26 February 1978 Alpha Ethniki Thomas Mavros Olympiacos 6–1 (H) 17 May 1978 Greek Cup
Clean sheets
The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal and then alphabetically by surname. Clean sheets in games where both goalkeepers participated are awarded to the goalkeeper who started the game. Goalkeepers with no appearances are not included. RankPlayerAlpha EthnikiGreek CupUEFA CupTotal110 3 0132 5 0 163 0 0 00 0 0 00Totals15 3 119
Disciplinary record
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| From Reserve Squad
Starting 11 This section presents the most frequently used formation along with the players with the most starts across all competitions.
Formation Matchday(s)444–4–2 (D)1–34
Player Nikos ChristidisGKPetros RavousisRCBLakis NikolaouLCBGiannis MousourisRBBabis IntzoglouLBMilton VieraDMTasos KonstantinouRCMTakis NikoloudisLCMMimis Papaioannou (C)AMDušan BajevićCFThomas MavrosCF
Awards PlayerAwardSource Thomas Mavros FW Alpha Ethniki Top Scorer Dušan Bajević FW Greek Cup Top Scorer
References
External links AEK Athens F.C. Official Website A.E.K. FC Database