2008–09 AEK Athens F.C. season

Overview

After the end of an indifferent season, the team initially finished in first place in the league, but after the court case between Apollon Kalamaria and Olympiacos for the illegal use of a player in the 1-0 Apollon Kalamaria win earlier in the season, Olympiacos were awarded the 3 points in a court hearing, thus finishing 2 points ahead of AEK. AEK then finished 2nd in the national playoffs which saw them qualify for the UEFA Cup.

The club sold 18,200 season tickets. The new season started nervously, since the team was constantly under-performing during friendly games. The apparent nervousness reached a new high, when the team was defeated at home by underdogs Omonia at the first leg of the UEFA Cup Second qualifying round, followed by the chairman Demis Nikolaidis' resignation announcement for the end of the season, and Rivaldo's sudden intention to leave the club in order to join FC Bunyodkor from Uzbekistan. AEK was eventually eliminated from the UEFA Cup. Despite the disappointment, the team responded surprisingly well and put an assertive performance against fierce rivals Panathinaikos by beating them 2-1 at home during matchday 1, but poor performances and results from then on left AEK in a difficult situation. Head coach Giorgos Donis was eager to leave the club, but president Demis Nikolaidis did not allow him to leave. Nevertheless, Nikolaidis left due to these disappointing results and after a controversy with the clubs supporters Original 21, leaving the presidency to member of the D.C., Nikos Koulis and Takis Kanellopoulos.

However, the series of disappointing results continued, bringing anger and insecure situations for everyone in the team. The first to be hit by this wave of disappointment and with the council of the team upset, was the coach Giorgos Donis, who was asked to leave the team. On November 21, 2008, AEK hired Dušan Bajević as head coach for the third time.

On 2 May 2009, AEK participated in the Greek Cup final at Athens Olympic Stadium in an effort to obtain the Greek Cup title for 14th time. However the result did not go in their favour after losing 14-15 on penalties vs their arch rival Olympiacos.

Events

Squad changes

In:

Total spending: €7,775M

Out:

Total income: €6,91M

Last updated: 2009-05-31

Squad stats

Last updated: 2009-05-31
Source: Match reports in competitive matches, galanissportsdata.com
Ordered by start team, game starts and position on pitch (from back right to front left)
0 shown as blank
Country: when 2 flags, 1st flag = country that plays for internationally, 2nd flag = country of birth; N = number on jersey; P = Position; Name = Name on jersey (for more extended name, pause the mouse pointer on the name); GS = Game Started; A = Appearances.

Notes

Start formations

Last updated: 15 May 2009
Source: Match reports in Competitive matches
Only competitive matches.

Other information

Source: aekfc.gr

Manager stats

Only competitive matches are counted. Wins, losses and draws are results at the final whistle; the results of penalty shootouts are not counted.

Classification

This is the classification of the regular season:

Updated to games played on 1 March 2009.
Source: Detailed Standings
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Head-to-Head: used when head-to-head record is used to rank tied teams.

Results summary

Last updated: 22 March 2009.
Source:

Results by round

Last updated: 22 March 2009.
Source: superleaguegreece.net (Greek)
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Play-off table

Last updated May 31, 2009

Updated to games played on 31 May 2009.
Source: superleaguegreece.net (Greek)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Head-to-Head: used when head-to-head record is used to rank tied teams.

(*) The teams started the play-offs with the following number of points:

Pre-season

Last updated: 15 July 2009
Source: aekfc
¹AEK Athens goals come first.
National flags for Ground and Opponent columns are only shown when different to that of AEK Athens.
M = Match; Ground: H = Home, A = Away, N = Neutral, HR = Home replacement, AR = Away replacement.

Competitive

Last updated: 2009-05-31
Source:
¹AEK Athens goals come first.
National flags for Ground and Opponent columns are only shown when different to that of AEK Athens.
M = Match; Ground: H = Home, A = Away, N = Neutral, HR = Home replacement, AR = Away replacement.