AEK Athens

1966–67 season
Chairman	Michail Trikoglou Emmanouil Kalitsounakis
Manager	Tryfon Tzanetis (until 27 January) Jenő Csaknády
Stadium	AEK Stadium
Alpha Ethniki	2nd
Greek Cup	Quarter-finals
European Cup Winners' Cup	First round
Balkans Cup	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	League: Panagiotis Ventouris (13) All: Mimis Papaioannou (22)
Highest home attendance	35,000 vs Panathinaikos (25 June 1967)
Lowest home attendance	3,000 vs Athinaikos (14 May 1967)
Average home league attendance	14,870
Biggest win	Aspida Xanthi 1–5 AEK Athens AEK Athens 5–1 Panserraikos Vyzas Megara 0–4 AEK Athens AEK Athens 4–0 Athinaikos
Biggest defeat	Fenerbahçe 3–1 AEK Athens
Home colours

The 1966–67 season was the 43rd season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the eighth consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the Balkans Cup. The season began on 1 March 1966 and finished on 30 May 1968.

Overview

The presence of AEK Athens in the championship of the previous season may left them with the bitterness for not winning it, but taking into account the injustice and punishments they suffered, combined with the serious issue of the abstention of Mimis Papaioannou, gave the impression that the club was ready for the new championship race without significant transfer additions. The departures of Giorgos Petridis, Fanis Tasinos and above all, of the legendary Kostas Nestoridis, after nine active seasons at the club, did not disturb the manager, Tryfon Tzanetis, who did not proceed in any particular transfer move. Considering that the already existing roster that had been gradually acquired in the early 60's was sufficient to cope with the club's needs, procceding only in the acquisition of the forward of Apollon Athens, Vasilis Mastrakoulis as a back-up choice to Papaioannou and Papageorgiou who had formed an irreplaceable attacking duo. As far as covering the gap in the midfield was concerned, this was filled with the definitive return to the team of the versatile Panagiotis Ventouris, after the end of his spell in South Africa during the previous season.

AEK started the season at the first round of the European Cup Winners' Cup. Their opponent was the Braga, who in the previous season had won their first title and made their maiden appearance in European competitions. The performance of the club in both legs was not enough as they were eliminated by 2 defeats. The championship race started with Olympiacos, having found in the person of Márton Bukovi their own reformer, seemed unstoppable, as they achieved 11 straight victories in the same number of games. Additionally, the unexpected draw in Serres from Panserraikos, shook the management of AEK and playing their last card in the hunt for the league, removed Tzanetis from the team's bench and brought back after three and a half years the emblematic 1963 league winner, Jenő Csaknády.^[1] The Hungarian-German coach made his mark from the start, when in the first two matches achieved as many victories, including a home win against Olympiacos, reducing the distance from the top to 4 points. The imposing 5–1 victory over Panserraikos on 16 April reduced the distance even more to 3 points from Olympiacos. However, five days later, the championship was interrupted for over a month, as the football stadiums were used by the rulers of the military dictatorship, that had meanwhile been imposed on the country as gathering places for arrested dissidents. Sports matches were some of the first social events that the dictatorial regime restored to their regular conduction and AEK returned on 21 May winning Egaleo by 0–2, which combined with the draw of the red and whites, brought AEK within a breathing distance of 2 points from the top. In the Cup, AEK, like the rest of the teams that reached the round of 16 of the previous season, entered directly into the second round where they defeated with ease Athinaikos and Aspida Xanthi, in the next round, only to be eliminated by the eventual winners, Panathinaikos by a 2–1 defeat at home. If that was not enough, the draw with no goals against Ethnikos at home, as well as the 1–1 at Karaiskakis Stadium against Olympiacos marked the end of the league race, as they finished second with a distance of 3 points from the top.

AEK also competed in the Balkans Cup of the season, placed in the 2nd group alongside FK Vardar, Lokomotiv Sofia and Farul Constanța. They manage to finish first undefeated as they achieved 3 wins and 3 draws and qualified for the 2-legged final, facing Fenerbahçe. In the first game at Nea Filadelfeia, AEK won by 2–1 and went to Istanbul to defend their slight lead. The Turks managed to equalize the lead of the first leg, winning by 1–0 and since the away goals rule was not applied in the tournament, a third match was set. In order for a free date for the match to be found, 7 months had to pass and on 30 May 1968 at Mithat Paşa, AEK were defeated by 3–1 and a lost a great opportunity to win an international trophy, that in those years had not yet lost its glory.^[2]

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 31 December 1967, 23:59 UTC+2.

Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Stelios Serafidis		GK	(1935-08-06)6 August 1935 (aged 32)	1953	AEK Athens U20	—	1972
Vangelis Petrakis		GK	(1938-09-07)7 September 1938 (aged 29)	1962	Aris	Free	1967
Theodoros Maniateas		GK	(1945-03-19)19 March 1945 (aged 22)	1964	Panthisiakos	Free	1969
Defenders
Alekos Sofianidis		LB / LM / LW	(1937-08-03)3 August 1937 (aged 30)	1959	Beşiktaş	Free	1969
Aleko Yordan		CB	(1938-01-10)10 January 1938 (aged 29)	1962	Beykoz	Free	1969
Tasos Vasiliou		CB	(1938-08-04)4 August 1938 (aged 29)	1965	Apollon Athens	₯1,500,000	1970
Giorgos Kefalidis		RB / CB	(1941-03-21)21 March 1941 (aged 26)	1964	Pierikos	Free	1972
Fotis Balopoulos		CB / DM / CM / ST	(1943-12-17)17 December 1943 (aged 24)	1964	Proodeftiki	₯450,000	1970
Lakis Fragoudakis		CB / DM	1944 (aged 22–23)	1964	Free agent	Free	1970
Midfielders
Stelios Skevofilakas		LM / RM / AM	(1939-01-06)6 January 1939 (aged 28)	1960	Eleftheroupoli	Free	1972
Panagiotis Ventouris		AM / SS	(1943-03-01)1 March 1943 (aged 24)	1965	Fostiras	₯435,000	1972
Nikos Stathopoulos		LM / LB	(1943-11-08)8 November 1943 (aged 24)	1965	AEK Athens U20	—	1974
Michalis Simigdalas		CM	(1944-06-23)23 June 1944 (aged 23)	1963	AEK Athens U20	—	1969
Giorgos Karafeskos		CM / DM / RM / RW	(1946-12-08)8 December 1946 (aged 21)	1963	AEK Athens U20	—	1974
Forwards
Andreas Stamatiadis (Captain)		RW / LW / SS / ST	(1935-08-16)16 August 1935 (aged 32)	1952	AEK Athens U20	—	1959
Vasilis Mastrakoulis		RW / ST / SS	1939 (aged 27–28)	1966	Hellenic	Free	1968
Kostas Papageorgiou		ST	(1941-01-01)1 January 1941 (aged 26)	1963	Atromitos	₯200,000	1969
Mimis Papaioannou		SS / ST / AM	(1942-08-23)23 August 1942 (aged 25)	1962	Veria	₯175,000	1979
Spyros Pomonis		LW / LM	(1944-02-12)12 February 1944 (aged 23)	1960	AEK Athens U20	—	1973
Kostas Nikolaidis		RW / LW / SS / ST	(1944-09-10)10 September 1944 (aged 23)	1965	PAO Safrabolis	Free	1973
Left during season
Giorgos Petridis		AM / SS / ST	(1938-02-10)10 February 1938 (aged 29)	1957	Pera Club	Free	1966
Nikos Sevastopoulos		RW / SS / AM / ST	(1945-02-26)26 February 1945 (aged 22)	1963	AEK Athens U20	—	1971

Transfers

In

Pos.	Player	From	Type	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
MF	Panagiotis Ventouris	Hellenic	End of loan	—	1 July 1966	30 June 1972
FW	Vasilis Mastrakoulis	Hellenic	Transfer	Free	16 August 1966	30 June 1968

Out

Pos.	Player	To	Type	Fee	Date	Source
MF	Fanis Tasinos	Free agent	End of contract	—	1 July 1966
MF	Giorgos Petridis	Vyzas Megara	End of contract	—	1 July 1966

Loan out

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
FW	Nikos Sevastopoulos	Hellenic	Free	1 April 1967	30 June 1968	N

Pre-season and friendlies

Santos v AEK Athens

25 August 1966 New York Champions Cup	Santos	1–0	AEK Athens	New York
	Toninho	Report		Stadium: Randall's Island Stadium

Benfica v AEK Athens

28 August 1966 New York Champions Cup	Benfica	2–2	AEK Athens	New York
		Report	Papaioannou	Stadium: Randall's Island Stadium

Competitions

European Cup Winners' Cup

Main article: 1966–67 European Cup Winners' Cup

First round

AEK Athens v Braga

28 September 1966 First leg	AEK Athens	0–1	Braga	Athens, Greece
16:00 EET (UTC+2)		Report	Luciano 26'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 23,207 Referee: Josip Horvat (Yugoslavia)

Braga v AEK Athens

5 October 1966 Second leg	Braga	3–2 (4–2 agg.)	AEK Athens	Braga, Portugal
17:00 EET (UTC+2)	Espingardeiro 15' Perrichon 30', 44'	Report	Papaioannou 6' Coimbra 87' (o.g.)	Stadium: Estádio 1º de Maio Attendance: 13,892 Referee: John Adair (Northern Ireland)

Balkans Cup

Main article: 1966–67 Balkans Cup

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification
1	AEK Athens (A)	6	3	3	0	10	5	2.000	9	Advances to finals
2	Lokomotiv Sofia	6	2	2	2	11	10	1.100	6
3	Farul Constanța	6	2	1	3	8	14	0.571	5
4	FK Vardar	6	1	2	3	6	6	1.000	4

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal average; 3) number of goals scored
(A) Advance to a further round

Matches

Group stage

Lokomotiv Sofia v AEK Athens

1 March 1966 Matcday 1	Lokomotiv Sofia	3–3	AEK Athens	Sofia, Bulgaria
16:00 EET (UTC+2)	Georgiev 27' Mihalyov 77' Debarski 78'		Papaioannou 37' Nikolaidis 47' Karafeskos 71'	Stadium: Balgarska Armia Stadium Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Vladimir Stanković (Yugoslavia)

AEK Athens v Lokomotiv Sofia

8 June 1966 Matcday 2	AEK Athens	1–0	Lokomotiv Sofia	Athens, Greece
17:30 EET (UTC+2)	Papaioannou 68'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Stelios Mavrogenis (Cyprus)

AEK Athens v Farul Constanța

14 December 1966 Matcday 3	AEK Athens	3–0	Farul Constanța	Athens, Greece
15:00 EET (UTC+2)	Pomonis 16' Papaioannou 19', 85'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 5,000

AEK Athens v FK Vardar

19 April 1967 Matcday 4	AEK Athens	1–0	FK Vardar	Athens, Greece
16:30 EET (UTC+2)	Papageorgiou 50'			Stadium: AEK Stadium Referee: Andreas Kouniaidis (Cyprus)

FK Vardar v AEK Athens

6 September 1967 Matcday 5	FK Vardar	1–1	AEK Athens	Skopje, Yugoslavia
	Mojsov 85'		Papaioannou 18'	Stadium: Gradski Referee: Ratko Čanak (Yugoslavia)

Farul Constanța v AEK Athens

13 September 1967 Matcday 6	Farul Constanța	1–1	AEK Athens	Constanța, Romania
	Ologu 87'		Papaioannou 75'	Stadium: Stadionul Farul Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Vasile Dumitrescu (Romania)

Finals

AEK Athens v Fenerbahçe

11 October 1967 First leg	AEK Athens	2–1	Fenerbahçe	Athens
16:00 EET (UTC+2)	Papaioannou 14' Sofianidis 42' (pen.)	Report	Soydan 16'	Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 24,200 Referee: Luben Spasov (Bulgaria)

Fenerbahçe v AEK Athens

26 October 1967 Second leg	Fenerbahçe	1–0	AEK Athens	Istanbul
20:00 EET (UTC+2)	Aktuna 45+1' (pen.)			Stadium: Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium Attendance: 42,181 Referee: Božidar Botić (Yugoslavia)

Fenerbahçe v AEK Athens

29 May 1968 Play–off	Fenerbahçe	3–1	AEK Athens	Istanbul
	Altıparmak 2', 70' Şen 33'		Papaioannou 71'	Stadium: Mithat Paşa Attendance: 24,817 Referee: Teodor Bechirov (Bulgaria)

Statistics

Squad statistics

As of 29 May 1968

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		European Cup Winners' Cup		Balkans Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Stelios Serafidis	21	0	2	0	0	0	7	0	30	0
—	GK	Vangelis Petrakis	6	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	10	0
—	GK	Theodoros Maniateas	2	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	6	0
Defenders
—	DF	Alekos Sofianidis	28	0	3	0	2	0	6	1	39	1
—	DF	Aleko Yordan	5	0	3	0	0	0	6	0	14	0
—	DF	Tasos Vasiliou	30	2	2	0	2	0	9	0	43	2
—	DF	Giorgos Kefalidis	14	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	18	0
—	DF	Fotis Balopoulos	25	0	1	0	2	0	8	0	36	0
—	DF	Lakis Fragoudakis	18	1	3	0	1	0	4	0	26	1
Midfielders
—	MF	Stelios Skevofilakas	23	2	3	1	2	0	7	0	35	3
—	MF	Panagiotis Ventouris	25	13	1	1	0	0	6	0	32	14
—	MF	Nikos Stathopoulos	16	0	1	0	1	0	3	0	21	0
—	MF	Michalis Simigdalas	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
—	MF	Giorgos Karafeskos	15	1	2	0	2	0	9	1	28	2
Forwards
—	FW	Andreas Stamatiadis	24	2	2	0	1	0	8	0	35	2
—	FW	Vasilis Mastrakoulis	9	0	0	0	2	0	4	0	15	0
—	FW	Kostas Papageorgiou	3	1	1	1	1	0	4	1	9	3
—	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	22	10	3	3	2	1	9	8	36	22
—	FW	Spyros Pomonis	18	9	2	0	1	0	4	1	25	10
—	FW	Kostas Nikolaidis	24	11	3	4	1	0	9	1	37	16
Left during season
—	MF	Giorgos Petridis	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
—	FW	Nikos Sevastopoulos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goalscorers

As of 29 May 1968

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	European Cup Winners' Cup	Balkans Cup	Total
1	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	10	3	1	8	22
2	FW	Kostas Nikolaidis	11	4	0	1	16
3	MF	Panagiotis Ventouris	13	1	0	0	14
4	FW	Spyros Pomonis	9	0	0	1	10
5	MF	Stelios Skevofilakas	2	1	0	0	3
	FW	Kostas Papageorgiou	1	1	0	1	3
7	DF	Tasos Vasiliou	2	0	0	0	2
	FW	Andreas Stamatiadis	2	0	0	0	2
	MF	Giorgos Karafeskos	1	0	0	1	2
10	DF	Lakis Fragoudakis	1	0	0	0	1
	DF	Alekos Sofianidis	0	0	0	1	1
Own goals			0	0	1	0	1
Totals			52	10	2	13	77

Hat-tricks

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition	Source
Kostas Nikolaidis	Panserraikos	5–1 (H)	16 April 1967	Alpha Ethniki
Kostas Nikolaidis	Aspida Xanthi	5–1 (A)	14 June 1967	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.

As of 29 May 1968

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	European Cup Winners' Cup	Balkans Cup	Total
1	Stelios Serafidis	12	1	0	2	15
2	Vangelis Petrakis	3	0	0	0	3
3	Theodoros Maniateas	0	0	0	1	1
Totals		15	1	0	3	19

Disciplinary record

As of 29 May 1968

N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup			European Cup Winners' Cup			Balkans Cup			Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Stelios Serafidis
—	GK		Vangelis Petrakis
—	GK		Theodoros Maniateas
Defenders
—	DF		Alekos Sofianidis
—	DF		Aleko Yordan
—	DF		Tasos Vasiliou
—	DF		Giorgos Kefalidis
—	DF		Fotis Balopoulos
—	DF		Lakis Fragoudakis
Midfielders
—	MF		Stelios Skevofilakas
—	MF		Panagiotis Ventouris
—	MF		Nikos Stathopoulos
—	MF		Michalis Simigdalas
—	MF		Giorgos Karafeskos
Forwards
—	FW		Andreas Stamatiadis
—	FW		Vasilis Mastrakoulis
—	FW		Kostas Papageorgiou
—	FW		Mimis Papaioannou
—	FW		Spyros Pomonis
—	FW		Kostas Nikolaidis
Left during season
—	MF		Giorgos Petridis
—	FW		Nikos Sevastopoulos

Awards

Player	Pos.	Award	Source
Kostas Nikolaidis	FW	Greek Cup Top Scorer

References

External links

• AEK Athens F.C. Official Website