Greek Football Cup

The Greek Football Cup (Greek: Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation.[1]

Greek Football Cup

Organising body	Hellenic Football Federation
Founded	1931
Region	Greece
Number of teams	84 (2019–20)
Qualifier for	UEFA Europa League
Current champions	Olympiacos (28th title)
Most successful club(s)	Olympiacos (28 titles)
Television broadcasters	Cosmote Sport
Website	www.epo.gr
2020–21 Greek Cup

Because it involves clubs of all standards playing against each other, there is the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament and even theoretically win the Cup.

Olympiacos is the most successful club having reached the final 41 times and earning 28 trophies.

History

AEK Athens' team which won the first Greek Cup in 1932.

The Greek Cup under EPO began in 1931. In its early years, entry was optional. Teams were paired against each other by the football associations, without a draw taking place. Later on, for many years, a proper draw took place and also two-legged matches were added.

The participation of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos in the final 1962 is counted for both as the presence of a finalist, since the match was stopped due to darkness in overtime (0-0). Due to the incidents between the players of the two teams, the incidents in the stands, the excessive delays and the suspicion that all this was intentional for the match to be repeated and for the teams to make bigger profits, the GGA council decided to punish the EPO with a reprimand and banned the replay of the match as a penalty for both teams[2][3][4]

Until 1964, if the final score was a draw (including extra time), the two teams played a replay match, while penalties didn't exist. That year, in the semi-final[5] between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos (1–1 at the time),fans of both teams stormed the pitch, damaged the football field and virtually stopped the game, believing that it was fixed to end in a draw, in order to be replayed for financial reasons. Both teams were ejected from the competition and therefore, in 1964 AEK won the title but the final match was not held. AEK also won in similar fashion in 1966 when Olympiacos did not show up in the final.[6]

In 1965, a new rule was applied, to determine that, if the game was undecided even after extra time, the winner would be determined by the toss of a coin. Panathinaikos won this way in the 1969 final against Olympiacos[7] . Afterwards the penalty shootout was applied. Until 1971, teams from all over the country, professional and amateur, had been taking part. Each team first played against clubs from its own association and the winners continued in a nationwide competition. Due to this, strong professional sides met amateur neighbourhood teams, sometimes beating them with high scores; a 23–0 win in an Apollon Athens vs. PAO Neas Melandias match on 23 September 1959 remains a record win for the Greek Cup until today. Since 1971, only teams from professional divisions are allowed to participate, while amateur clubs take part in the Amateur Cup.

In 1991 and 1992 the finals were two-legged matches.

It is widely considered that the most exciting match in the history of the competition was the 2009 final[8] between Olympiacos and AEK (3–3 full time, 4–4 after extra time and 15–14 on penalties).

Cup Winners

11 clubs have won the Greek Cup.[9]

1931–32: AEK 1932–33: Ethnikos 1938–39: AEK 1939–40: Panathinaikos 1946–47: Olympiacos 1947–48: Panathinaikos 1948–49: AEK 1949–50: AEK 1950–51: Olympiacos 1951–52: Olympiacos 1952–53: Olympiacos 1953–54: Olympiacos 1954–55: Panathinaikos 1955–56: AEK 1956–57: Olympiacos 1957–58: Olympiacos 1958–59: Olympiacos 1959–60: Olympiacos 1960–61: Olympiacos 1961–62: – 1962–63: Olympiacos 1963–64: AEK 1964–65: Olympiacos 1965–66: AEK 1966–67: Panathinaikos 1967–68: Olympiacos 1968–69: Panathinaikos

1969–70: Aris 1970–71: Olympiacos 1971–72: PAOK 1972–73: Olympiacos 1973–74: PAOK 1974–75: Olympiacos 1975–76: Iraklis 1976–77: Panathinaikos 1977–78: AEK 1978–79: Panionios 1979–80: Kastoria 1980–81: Olympiacos 1981–82: Panathinaikos 1982–83: AEK 1983–84: Panathinaikos 1984–85: AEL 1985–86: Panathinaikos 1986–87: OFI 1987–88: Panathinaikos 1988–89: Panathinaikos 1989–90: Olympiacos 1990–91: Panathinaikos 1991–92: Olympiacos 1992–93: Panathinaikos 1993–94: Panathinaikos 1994–95: Panathinaikos 1995–96: AEK

1996–97: AEK 1997–98: Panionios 1998–99: Olympiacos 1999–00: AEK 2000–01: PAOK 2001–02: AEK 2002–03: PAOK 2003–04: Panathinaikos 2004–05: Olympiacos 2005–06: Olympiacos 2006–07: AEL 2007–08: Olympiacos 2008–09: Olympiacos 2009–10: Panathinaikos 2010–11: AEK 2011–12: Olympiacos 2012–13: Olympiacos 2013–14: Panathinaikos 2014–15: Olympiacos 2015–16: AEK 2016–17: PAOK 2017–18: PAOK 2018–19: PAOK 2019–20: Olympiacos

Notes:
• In the periods 1933–38 and 1940–46, the competition was not held (in 1940–41 only the 1st round was carried out).
• In 1961–62, final match between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos was abandoned (no cup winner).
• In 1963–64 and 1965–66, final matches were not held.
• Statistical paradox : 78 editions of the competition, 77 concluded with a cup winner, 76 finals (75 concluded - 1 abandoned).

Performance by club

19 clubs have reached the Greek Cup final.[10]

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Olympiacos	28	12[lower-alpha 1]	1947, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2020	1956, 1966,[lower-alpha 2] 1969, 1974, 1976, 1986, 1988, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2016
Panathinaikos	18	10[lower-alpha 1]	1940, 1948, 1955, 1967, 1969, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2004, 2010, 2014	1949, 1960, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1975, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2007
AEK	15	11	1932, 1939, 1949, 1950, 1956, 1964,[lower-alpha 3] 1966,[lower-alpha 3] 1978, 1983, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2011, 2016	1948, 1953, 1979, 1994, 1995, 2006, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
PAOK	7	13	1972, 1974, 2001, 2003, 2017, 2018, 2019	1939, 1951, 1955, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1992, 2014
Panionios	2	4	1979, 1998	1952, 1961, 1967, 1989
AEL	2	2	1985, 2007	1982, 1984
Aris	1	8	1970	1932, 1933, 1940, 1950, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010
Iraklis	1	4	1976	1947, 1957, 1980, 1987
OFI	1	1	1987	1990
Ethnikos	1	0	1933
Kastoria	1	0	1980
Doxa Drama	0	3		1954, 1958, 1959
Atromitos	0	2		2011, 2012
Pierikos	0	1		1963
Athinaikos	0	1		1991
Apollon Smyrni	0	1		1996
Ionikos	0	1		2000
Asteras Tripoli	0	1		2013
Xanthi	0	1		2015

1. In addition to this total, the 1962 final between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos was interrupted in overtime. The match was not replayed and no team was declared a cup winner. Both teams are considered finalists.[11]
2. Qualified for the final but did not take part, with opponents AEK awarded the trophy.
3. Awarded trophy with no final played.

Total titles won by city

11 clubs have won the Greek Football Cup, from a total of 6 cities.

City	Number of Titles	Clubs
Athens	35	Panathinaikos (18), AEK (15), Panionios (2)
Piraeus	29	Olympiacos (28), Ethnikos (1)
Thessaloniki	9	PAOK (7), Aris (1), Iraklis (1)
Larissa	2	AEL (2)
Heraklion	1	OFI (1)
Kastoria	1	Kastoria (1)

See also

• Greek Super League
• Greek Super Cup
• Greek League Cup

References

1. "EPO - Hellenic Football Federation". www.epo.gr. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
2. http://www.oldfootball.gr/k2/user-page/item/60-apagoreythikan-ta-olympiakos-panathinaikos.html
3. "1960-1961 ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΟΣ" (PDF). epo.gr.
4. Τελικός 1962 διακοπή. sportdog.gr (in Greek).
5. Ημιτελικός 1964 διακοπή. sansimera.gr (in Greek).
6. Τελικός 1966 που δεν έγινε ποτέ. oldfootball.gr (in Greek).
7. Ιουλ 2017 10:27, Επιμέλεια: Νίκος Συριώδης Δημοσίευση: 09. "Ο τελικός που κρίθηκε στο στρίψιμο της δεκάρας". www.sport24.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2021-01-16.
8. Τελικός 2009. contra.gr (in Greek).
9. Η Χρυσή Βίβλος. sport24.gr (in Greek).
10. Ολοι οι Τελικοί. sdna.gr (in Greek).
11. https://www.epo.gr/vodafon/kyppello/Kipello1961-1970.pdf

External links

• Cup at UEFA
• RSSSF