The Greek Cup 1961–62 was the 20th edition of The Greek Football Cup, or Greek Cup for short.
Contents
Tournament details
The competition began normally, but however was never completed. Although the Final (between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos) was held, it was abandoned in extra time, and no Cup was awarded that year.
In the Round of 32, the teams that had qualified to Round of 16 of previous season qualified without matches. By Alpha Ethniki teams of that year, 6 teams were entered in qualifying matches. They were PAOK, Ethnikos Piraeus, Egaleo, Niki Volos, Panelefsiniakos and Fostiras. The last two did not qualify for the Round of 32, after they were eliminated by Ethnikos and Egaleo respectively.
In the Round of 32, the teams of Central and Southern Greece were drawn against each other, as were the teams of Northern Greece, with the exception of the tie between Atromitos and Olympiakos Kozani. From the Round of 16 and afterwards, there was draw between teams that had qualified. In two cases the winners were determined by draw, after both matches ended in a draw after extra time. Olympiacos won 9–0 against an OFI Crete team that was mediocre in those times.
Finalists that year were the eternal enemies, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. The match was played at the Nikos Goumas Stadium. It was an eventful and very hard match that was marked by three red cards in a first half which in fact lasted 66 minutes because of the continuous interruptions. The intermission lasted 30 minutes, while spectators suspicious that both teams wanted the draw in order to make more money from the replay, (there were no penalty shootouts then), hurled objects on to the pitch.
The second half went more smoothly despite the reactions of disgruntled spectators unhappy with proceedings. The scores remained tied and the match went to extra time. However, with the big delay from the beginning of the match, darkness set in, (there were no floodlights in the stadium), so the Swiss referee abandoned the game.
The Hellenic Football Federation (EPO), fearful of reactions, declined to arrange a replay, so while there was a Cup Final, there was no Cup winner. In the European Cup Winners' Cup of next season Olympiacos were entered, while Panathinaikos were the champions of that year, and therefore entered the European Cup competition.
Final
For more informations, see prologue.