The 2002–03 Greek Football Cup was the 61st edition of the
Greek Football Cup
The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation.
The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...
. That season's edition was entitled "Vodafone Greek Cup" for sponsorship reasons.
Tournament details
The two finalists were the
arch-rivals,
PAOK
PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...
and
Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to:
People
* Aris (surname)
Given name
* Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer
* Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player
* Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano
* Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter
* Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect
* ...
, meeting up again in a Cup final after
33 years. PAOK had to overcome some big obstacles to reach the final. They qualified against
OFI on away goals rule and eliminated league champions
Olympiacos
Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...
with two wins in the quarter-finals and Cup holders
AEK Athens
A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens.
Establishe ...
with 2–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
On the contrary, Aris had an easier path on their route to the final. They eliminated
PAS Giannina
PAS Giannina Football Club (), or with its full name Panipirotikós Athlitikós Síllogos Giánnina (, ''Panepirotic Athletic Club Giannina'') is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Ioannina, the capita ...
with two wins,
Ethnikos Asteras with 3–2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals and qualified against
Egaleo
Aigaleo or Egaleo ( ) is a town and a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens urban area, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo, whose name comes from the words αίγα/a ...
on away goals rule in the semi-finals.
The final was held at
Toumba Stadium, on 17 May 2003. PAOK defeated Aris by 1–0 with a goal scored by
Georgiadis who made an impressive individual effort, dribbling past a defender with his right foot, faking a shot with his left (outsmarting another defender and the goalkeeper in the process) and finishing with a swift side-foot kick (using his left again) that launched the ball up and into the back of the net. The assist was provided by
Markos. Aris had a great chance to equalize late at the game, but the ball hit the post on
Morris' effort.
During the postgame press conference, Aris manager
Giorgos Foiros made a complaint that the final should have been a two-legged tie because PAOK had the advantage of playing on home ground.
Kaftanzoglio Stadium, a neutral ground and Thessaloniki 's largest stadium was under renovation for the
2004 Summer Olympic games. The
Hellenic Football Federation's regulation for that season's Cup stated that if the final was to be held at Thessaloniki (that would be the case if at least one of the two finalists was a Thessaloniki 's team), it would be hosted at the second largest stadium of the city which was Toumba. About a week before the game, Aris demanded from the federation either the final to be played at
Kalamaria Stadium or
Makedonikos Stadium, both neutral grounds (with much smaller capacity though) or to be held a draw between
Toumba Stadium and
Aris Stadium, but both requests were denied due to the tournament's regulation.
PAOK manager
Angelos Anastasiadis became the first in club's history to win the Cup both as a player, in
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...
and manager.
Calendar
Knockout phase
Each tie in the
knockout phase
A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
, apart from the final, was played over
two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the
away goals rule
The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...
was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then
extra time
Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...
was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the winners were decided by a
penalty shoot-out
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
. In the final, which were played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.
The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:
*For the 1st Round draw, the 1st Division teams and the top 10 teams of the 2nd Division are seeded, the remaining teams are unseeded.
*From the 2nd Round draw onwards, there are no seedings.
First round
The draw took place on 11 July 2002.
Seeding
Summary
Matches
''Kallithea won 6–0 on aggregate''
----
''OFI won 4–0 on aggregate''
----
''Panionios won 3–1 on aggregate''
----
''Ethnikos Asteras won 2–1 on aggregate''
----
''Agios Dimitrios won 3–2 on aggregate''
----
''PAS Giannina won 3–1 on aggregate''
----
''Egaleo won 6–4 on aggregate''
----
''Olympiakos Volos won on penalties''
----
''Skoda Xanthi won 4–0 on aggregate''
----
''Ergotelis won 6–2 on aggregate''
----
''Panachaiki won 7–2 on aggregate''
----
''Akratitos won 8–0 on aggregate''
----
''Iraklis won 4–2 on aggregate''
----
''Paniliakos won 7–0 on aggregate''
----
''Panathinaikos won 5–0 on aggregate''
----
''Apollon Kalamarias won 5–4 on aggregate''
----
''Chalkidona won 6–1 on aggregate''
----
''Patraikos won 3–2 on aggregate''
----
''PAOK won 1–0 on aggregate''
----
''Kalamata won 2–1 on aggregate''
----
''AEK Athens won 2–0 on aggregate.''
----
''Aris won 6–0 on aggregate''
----
''Kerkyra won 1–0 on aggregate''
----
''Olympiacos won 4–1 on aggregate''
----
''Apollon Athens won 3–0 on aggregate''
----
''Ionikos won 4–0 on aggregate''
Bracket
Second round
The draw took place on 27 September 2002.
Summary
, , colspan="2" rowspan="6"
Matches
''Panionios won 2–1 on aggregate.''
----
''AEK Athens won 6–1 on aggregate.''
----
''PAOK won 2–0 on aggregate.''
----
''Panathinaikos won 1–0 on aggregate.''
----
''Akratitos won 3–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Egaleo won 4–2 on aggregate.''
----
''Olympiacos won 4–2 on aggregate.''
----
''Aris won 4–1 on aggregate.''
----
''OFI won 4–0 on aggregate.''
----
''Ethnikos Asteras won 3–2 on aggregate.''
Round of 16
The draw took place on 28 November 2002.
Summary
Matches
''AEK Athens won 5–0 on aggregate.''
----
''PAOK won on away goals.''
----
''Aris won 4–0 on aggregate.''
----
''Panionios won 2–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Olympiacos won 2–0 on aggregate.''
----
''Egaleo won 6–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Ethnikos Asteras won 4–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Panathinaikos won 4–0 on aggregate.''
Quarter-finals
The draw took place on 30 January 2003.
Summary
Matches
''Egaleo won 2–1 on aggregate.''
----
''AEK Athens won 5–3 on aggregate.''
----
''Aris won 3–2 on aggregate.''
----
''PAOK won 5–2 on aggregate.''
Semi-finals
The draw took place on 20 March 2003.
Summary
Matches
''Aris won on away goals.''
----
''PAOK won 2–1 on aggregate.''
Final
Top scorers
References
External links
Greek Cup 2002-2003at RSSSF
Greek Cup 2002-2003at Hellenic Football Federation's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2002-03 Greek Cup
Greek Football Cup seasons
Greek Cup
The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation.
The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...
Cup
A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...