1987–88 AEK Athens F.C. season

Supplier: Zita Hellas
Sponsor(s): Ethniki Asfalistiki

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The final year of the presidency of Andreas Zafiropoulos, finally found AEK Athens at the second place of the league, behind AEL. The season was overshadowed by various non-competitive cases, the "Tsingov case", the "Ballis-Papadopoulos case" and the "Vosdos case". In the summer of 1987, AEK returned to the Nea Filadelfeia Stadium and was called to carry on without the club's legend, Thomas Mavros and as well as Håkan Sandberg. On the other hand, some useful players were acquired such as Savvidis, Nielsen and Vasilakos. Led by Todor Veselinović and with Panathinaikos and Olympiacos out of the title race early on, the team had a good presence and were in the claiming of the championship, but eventually lost it to the strong at that time AEL. The best players of the season for AEK were Manolas, Nielsen, Savvidis, Vasilakos, Janjanin and Patikas. Henrik Nielsen with 21 goals finished the season as the league's top scorer. The greatest victory of the season was the 7–1 at home against Veria.^[1]

However, the "Tsingov case" played crucial role in the outcome of the championship. The Bulgarian footballer, Georgi Tsingov of AEL was tested positive in a dropping test after the match against Panathinaikos. The court's decision was as the regulation predicted and punished AEL by zeroing them for that match, 2 points deduction and punishment of the player which brought AEK to the first place of the table. AEL appealed and their fans were revolted by blocking the highway, closing railway lines among other things. Before the appeal was heard the then Minister of Sports, Sifis Valyrakis changed the regulation "overnight", which predicted in cases of doping a footballer, only the footballer would be punished and not the club. So the points were returned back to AEL and finally won the championship. Essentially, AEK was entitled to win the championship on "papers", but AEL was a worthy champion, inside the football pitch and the club's mentality and principles are such that did not allow them to proceed in such actions.^[2]

Another scandal of the season was the "Vosdos case". The president of Panachaiki, Aris Loukopoulos, denounced AEK for an attempt to bribe the defender of the team, Leonidas Vosdos, before the match between the two teams at Patras. The footballer himself stated that no one approached him, the judges concluded that the story was an "invention" of Loukopoulos to create a climate of tension in view of the match and the president of Panachaiki was punished.^[3]

Noteworthy were also the incidents in the last match of the season at Nea Filadelfeia against Iraklis. The ultras stand had enough with Zafiropoulos, who was considered unable to lift the "weight" of handling the club, but the tension that existed did not justify the following events. Riot police, in an incomprehensible decision, entered the ultras stand and beat whoever stood in front of them which resulted in very heated encounters with the ultras. There were many who believe that Zafiropoulos influenced the police officers to act in this way.^[4]

In the Cup, AEK were eliminated at the round of 16 by Olympiacos. In the first match at Karaiskakis Stadium, AEK got a significant result with 1–1. On the eve of the rematch, a big scandal broke out as the former AEK footballer, Dinos Ballis visited at the hotel where the team were located with a bouquet for the goalkeeper, Theologis Papadopoulos and created strong suspicions that he was trying to bribe him. The match took place, with Olympiacos winning 1–3 and the story continued in the courts. The Koskotas brothers were accused of trying to bribe Papadopoulos and Vasilakos through Ballis, while many AEK fans believe that AEK was involved in the whole case. Eventually, in a very strange court decision, the only one who was punished for the whole case was Ballis for attempted bribery.^[5]

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 15 May 1988, 23:59 UTC+3.

Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Spyros Ikonomopoulos		GK	(1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 28)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1993
Theologis Papadopoulos		GK	(1960-01-12)12 January 1960 (aged 28)	1984	AEL	Free	1989
Fanis Kofinas		GK	(1960-09-05)5 September 1960 (aged 27)	1982	Pelopas Kiato	Free	1992
Defenders
Makis Chatzis		RB / LB	(1957-03-30)30 March 1957 (aged 31)	1984	Apollon Athens	Free	1992
Panagiotis Stylianopoulos		RB / LB	(1957-09-04)4 September 1957 (aged 30)	1978	AEK Athens U20	—	1988
Takis Karagiozopoulos		CB / DM / ST	(1961-02-04)4 February 1961 (aged 27)	1981	Veria	Free	1991
Polyvios Chatzopoulos		CB / DM	(1961-07-17)17 July 1961 (aged 26)	1985	Panionios	Free	1989
Stelios Manolas		CB / RB	(1961-07-13)13 July 1961 (aged 26)	1979	AEK Athens U20	—	1988
Giorgos Peppes		CB	(1961-10-26)26 October 1961 (aged 26)	1986	Ethnikos Piraeus	Free	1992
Sotiris Mavrodimos		CB / RB / LB / DM	(1962-07-18)18 July 1962 (aged 25)	1986	Kozani	Free	1989
Christos Vasilopoulos		RB / LB	(1962-11-12)12 November 1962 (aged 25)	1987	Panachaiki	Free	1991
Georgios Koutoulas		CB / LB	(1967-02-09)9 February 1967 (aged 21)	1987	AEK Athens U20	—	1999
Dimitris Volonakis		LB / CB	(1967-02-27)27 February 1967 (aged 21)	1987	AEK Athens U20	—	1990
Midfielders
Rajko Janjanin		CM	(1957-01-18)18 January 1957 (aged 31)	1986	OFI	Free	1988
Dimitris Pittas		AM / CM	(1958-04-08)8 April 1958 (aged 30)	1986	PAOK	Free	1989
Pavlos Papaioannou (Captain)		DM / RB / RM	(1959-05-19)19 May 1959 (aged 29)	1983	Rodos	₯10,000,000	1993
Nikos Pias		CM	(1960-04-07)7 April 1960 (aged 28)	1984	Rodos	Free	1988
Vasilios Vasilakos		AM	(1960-09-07)7 September 1960 (aged 27)	1987	PAOK	Free	1989
Giorgos Savvidis		AM / RM / RW / SS / ST	(1961-02-08)8 February 1961 (aged 27)	1987	Omonia	₯40,000,000	1990
Lampros Georgiadis		AM / LM / LB	(1963-07-11)11 July 1963 (aged 24)	1986	Anagennisi Arta	₯12,000,000	1991
Jim Patikas		RM / LM / RW / LW / SS	(1963-10-18)18 October 1963 (aged 24)	1985	Sydney Croatia	Free	1991
Forwards
Giannis Dintsikos		ST / SS / RW / LW / AM	(1960-06-25)25 June 1960 (aged 28)	1981	Kastoria	Free	1989
Henrik Nielsen		ST / SS	(1965-03-29)29 March 1965 (aged 23)	1987	B93	Free	1990
Left during Winter Transfer Window
Georgios Christodoulou		ST / SS / LW	(1967-05-20)20 May 1967 (aged 21)	1985	Akratitos	Free	1991

As of 15 May 1988

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	4	0	0	0	4	0
—	GK	Theologis Papadopoulos	17	0	4	0	21	0
—	GK	Fanis Kofinas	11	0	1	0	12	0
Defenders
—	DF	Makis Chatzis	16	0	4	0	20	0
—	DF	Panagiotis Stylianopoulos	3	0	0	0	3	0
—	DF	Takis Karagiozopoulos	14	1	2	0	16	1
—	DF	Polyvios Chatzopoulos	21	1	3	0	24	1
—	DF	Stelios Manolas	21	4	4	0	25	4
—	DF	Giorgos Peppes	30	2	3	0	33	2
—	DF	Sotiris Mavrodimos	23	0	4	1	27	1
—	DF	Christos Vasilopoulos	13	0	4	0	17	0
—	DF	Georgios Koutoulas	24	4	3	0	27	4
—	DF	Dimitris Volonakis	7	0	1	0	8	0
Midfielders
—	MF	Rajko Janjanin	28	1	3	0	31	1
—	MF	Dimitris Pittas	14	2	3	3	17	5
—	MF	Pavlos Papaioannou	17	0	1	0	18	0
—	MF	Nikos Pias	16	0	4	0	20	0
—	MF	Vasilios Vasilakos	23	4	4	1	27	5
—	MF	Giorgos Savvidis	23	5	3	0	26	5
—	MF	Lampros Georgiadis	19	1	4	1	23	2
—	MF	Jim Patikas	15	5	2	1	17	6
Forwards
—	FW	Giannis Dintsikos	2	0	2	0	4	0
—	FW	Henrik Nielsen	27	21	4	2	31	23
Left during Winter Transfer Window
—	FW	Georgios Christodoulou	2	0	0	0	2	0

As of 15 May 1988

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Total
1	FW	Henrik Nielsen	21	2	23
2	MF	Jim Patikas	5	1	6
3	MF	Giorgos Savvidis	5	0	5
	MF	Vasilios Vasilakos	4	1	5
	MF	Dimitris Pittas	2	3	5
6	DF	Georgios Koutoulas	4	0	4
	DF	Stelios Manolas	4	0	4
8	DF	Giorgos Peppes	2	0	2
	MF	Lampros Georgiadis	1	1	2
10	DF	Takis Karagiozopoulos	1	0	1
	DF	Polyvios Chatzopoulos	1	0	1
	MF	Rajko Janjanin	1	0	1
	DF	Sotiris Mavrodimos	0	1	1
Own goals			0	0	0
Totals			51	9	60

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition	Source
Henrik Nielsen4	Veria	7–1 (H)	6 December 1987	Alpha Ethniki	[10]

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.

As of 15 May 1988

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Total
1	Theologis Papadopoulos	6	1	7
2	Spyros Ikonomopoulos	3	0	3
3	Fanis Kofinas	2	0	2
Totals		11	1	12

As of 15 May 1988

N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup			Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Spyros Ikonomopoulos
—	GK		Theologis Papadopoulos	1			1			2
—	GK		Fanis Kofinas	1						1
Defenders
—	DF		Makis Chatzis	1		1				1		1
—	DF		Panagiotis Stylianopoulos
—	DF		Takis Karagiozopoulos	3						3
—	DF		Polyvios Chatzopoulos	4						4
—	DF		Stelios Manolas	7	1		3	1		10	2
—	DF		Giorgos Peppes	4			1			5
—	DF		Sotiris Mavrodimos	6	1					6	1
—	DF		Christos Vasilopoulos	4						4
—	DF		Georgios Koutoulas	3						3
—	DF		Dimitris Volonakis	3						3
Midfielders
—	MF		Rajko Janjanin	1						1
—	MF		Dimitris Pittas	3						3
—	MF		Pavlos Papaioannou	2						2
—	MF		Nikos Pias	3	1					3	1
—	MF		Vasilios Vasilakos	4			1			5
—	MF		Giorgos Savvidis	1						1
—	MF		Lampros Georgiadis	3			1			4
—	MF		Jim Patikas	1						1
Forwards
—	FW		Giannis Dintsikos
—	FW		Henrik Nielsen
Left during Winter Transfer Window
—	FW		Georgios Christodoulou

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• A.E.K. FC Database