2008–09 AEK Athens F.C. season

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A strange and ultimately unsuccessful season for AEK, who failed to handle the outcome of the previous season's Wallner case,^[1] mainly at the administrative level, but also at the financial level. The president, Demis Nikolaidis, decided to put his resignation at the disposal of the shareholders of the club, but he proceeded with fundamental changes in both the roster and the technical leadership of the team. He spent a lot of money, in order to change the balance in dressing room by essentially releasing the captains, Dellas and Liberopoulos and selling the talented Papastathopoulos to Genoa. He even proceeded with very expensive transfers for the club's standards, especially with that of Rafik Djebbour from Panionios, who spent the record amount of 3,200,000 euros. Alonsgside Djebbour, AEK also proceeded in the transfers of Kyrgiakos, Basinas, Majstorović, Saja, Pelletieri, Burns, Geraldo Alves and Juanfran, but the one who stood out was that of Ignacio Scocco, which was also the highest quality transfer during the Nikolaidis presidency. The most debatable choice of Nikolaidis was the hiring of Georgios Donis for the position of coach, since Donis had only worked with teams of a lower magnitude, where there wasn't the high pressure of the league race. The club sold 18,200 season tickets.

For the UEFA Cup, AEK were drawn with Cypriot Omonia and seemingly seemed the absolute favorite for the qualification. Donis, trying to change AEK's playing philosophy from the previous seasons, tried to implement an unattractive football model and very soon AEK paid the price. In Athens, Omonia, with a lucky goal towards the end of the first half, took the lead and finally got the victory against the unrecognizable and lazy AEK. AEK in the last match of Rivaldo, who in the following days surpisingly left for Bunyodkor from Uzbekistan, did not react at any point of the match, unable to produce phases and reduced to meaningless possession. The completely wrong approach and preparation of the match by Donis and his footballers made the task of AEK very difficult out of nowhere. The disaster for AEK was completed in the second leg at GSP Stadium, where spirited and tough Omonia limited them again, taking the lead in the score and despite being equalized by AEK did not lose control of the match, regaining the lead in the second half and only AEK managed to avoid the second defeat, equalizing at the end of the match. The disastrous exclusion from Europe effectively put AEK out of financial plans, which increased introversion and essentially forced Nikolaidis to leave earlier than the end of his presidency as he had informed the shareholders from the beginning of the summer.

AEK started the championship with a great victory, winning 2–1 against the newly rich Panathinaikos of the "multi-shareholder" era, but the continuation was disappointing. A series of 4 unsuccessful results brought Donis near to the exit door. On the 8th matchday amid heavy disapproval, AEK beat Asteras Tripolis with two goals in stoppage time at the Olympic Stadium and after the end of the match, Nikolaidis resigned implicitly attributing responsibilities to the ultras of the club.^[2] Donis was already fully exposed and the pressure appeared with yet another draw in Skoda Xanthi and along with a draw with Panserraikos at home, he resigned.^[3] The remaining management, Kanellopoulos and Koulis,^[4] believing that the team needed a great personality, hired Dušan Bajević, with the intention to turn him into general manager of AEK.^[5] The shareholders, after a final rift between them, decided to appoint Giorgos Kintis to the presidency, who immediately offered AEK a shop instead of one euro, as long as the prospective buyer took over the settled debts of the team, as well as the heavy opening of 15 million euros from the expensive transfer moves of the summer. No one appeared except for a written statement of intent by Dimitris Melissanidis and AEK continued with the internal upheavals being indescribable. Bajević had an indifferent season, which he also attributed to a lack of confidence in himself and was asking for big investments to be able to watch Olympiacos and Panathinaikos matches. Kintis, after a month and a half, being at a dead end and advocating a completely different philosophy from Bajević, resigned, Kanellopoulos resigned and left his shares to the Amateur AEK with Koulis following the same path. Nikos Thanopoulos, the chosen of the then major shareholder, Nikos Notias, took over as president after intense back-and-forth. And while the season was heading towards an unremarkable close, Bajević seemed to lack confidence in his players and was more concerned with management reshuffles than the team. So AEK ended the season with many draws, unattractive football and in fourth place behind Olympiakos, PAOK and Panathinaikos and without a competitive identity entered the play-offs with just one point, starting from a disadvantageous position .

The activities in the Cup started with a near exclusion from Ilisiakos who were left with 10 players and AEK taking the qualification in extra time. In the next phase against Kerkyra AEK were qualified with an amazing goal by Scocco in the 89th minute. In the quarter-finals, AEK's opponent was Skoda Xanthi, from who were lost 2–1 away, but managed to qualify thanks to a header from Blanco in the rematch. AEK easily qualified for the final after overcoming the obstacle of Panserraikos. The final that the club and the fans needed, especially against a great rival like Olympiacos, was ahead. On May 2, the best Cup final in the history of Greek football took place. AEK got off to a magical start, taking a 2–0 lead, thanks to two great goals from Blanco, but were leveled by goals from Derbyshire and Dudu. In the 90th minute, the class of Ignacio Scocco spoke, who passed everyone in front of him and perfectly shot past Nikopolidis. AEK, affected by the Argentine's superb goal, did not handle the stoppage time as needed and were leveled again by Derbyshire in the 96th minute. The game went to overtime, where AEK were shocked and conceded a fourth goal in the 102nd minute from Galletti. However, Ignacio Scocco in the 108th minute, again with a goal of rare beauty, equalized once more for AEK with the two teams going to the penalty shootout. So after 32 penalties and the score having reached the admirable 15–14, the final ended with the Olympiacos being crowned as the cup winner.^[6]

The play-offs started with ambition for AEK, who despite not winning the Cup, seemed determined to chase the position that led to the Champions League qualifiers. Indeed, until the last game AEK was the favorite along with Panathinaikos and the first place would be decided in the derby between them. Panathinaikos appeared more ready and determined and beat AEK by 0–2, which ended the season, without managing to return in the beficial qualifiers of the Champions League.^[7]

• 14 May: Georgios Donis replaces Nikos Kostenoglou as head manager.^[8]
• 16 May: Midfielder Antonis Rikka agrees to join AEK from Skoda Xanthi^[9]
• 20 May: Defender Daniel Majstorović agrees to join AEK from Basel^[10]
• 5 June: Midfielder Dániel Tőzsér joins Genk^[11]
• 1 July: Goalkeeper Sebastián Saja agrees to join AEK from San Lorenzo de Almagro^[12]
• 1 July: Striker Nacho Scocco agrees to join AEK from Club Universidad Nacional^[13]
• 1 July: Striker Nathan Burns agrees to join AEK from Adelaide United^[14]
• 1 July: Midfielder Júlio César signs for Rapid București on a free transfer^[15]
• 1 July: Striker Pantelis Kapetanos is released from the club after his contract expired.^[16]
• 3 July: Goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino joins Chievo on loan until the end of the season.^[17]
• 7 July: Striker Nikos Liberopoulos is released from the club.^[18]
• 23 July: Defender Traianos Dellas is released from the club.^[19]
• 30 July: Defender Juanfran agrees to join AEK from Real Zaragoza^[20]
• 31 July: Midfielder Angelos Basinas agrees to join AEK from Mallorca^[21]
• 1 August: Defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos agrees to join AEK from Eintracht Frankfurt^[22]
• 1 August: AEK is drawn against Omonia in the UEFA Cup Second qualifying round<
• 2 August: Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos joins Genoa^[23]
• 22 August: Chairman Demis Nikolaidis announces his intention to resign from his position at the end of the season.^[24]
• 27 August: Midfielder Rivaldo joins FC Bunyodkor.^[25]
• 30 August: Striker Rafik Djebbour agrees to join AEK from Panionios^[26]
• 1 September: Midfielder Agustín Pelletieri agrees to join AEK on loan from Lanús^[27]
• 2 November: Chairman Demis Nikolaidis resigns as president of AEK^[2]
• 5 November: Takis Kanellopoulos and Nikos Koulis take temporary charge of the club^[4]
• 17 November: AEK part ways with manager Giorgos Donis^[3]
• 21 November: Stelios Manolas becomes technical director of the club^[28]
• 21 November: Dušan Bajević becomes manager for the third time^[5]
• 1 December: Georgios Kintis becomes 43rd president of AEK.^[29]
• 27 January: Defender Edson Ratinho joins Mogi Mirim^[30]
• 2 February: Midfielder Angelos Basinas joins Portsmouth^[31]

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 May 2009, 23:59 UTC+3.

No.	Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
23	Sebastián Saja		GK	(1979-06-05)5 June 1979 (aged 30)	2008	San Lorenzo	Free	2012
77	Jürgen Macho		GK	(1977-08-24)24 August 1977 (aged 31)	2007	Kaiserslautern	€300,000	2009
84	Giannis Arabatzis		GK	(1984-05-28)28 May 1984 (aged 25)	2002	Makrochori	Free	2011
Defenders
4	Geraldo Alves		CB / RB	(1980-11-08)8 November 1980 (aged 28)	2007	Paços de Ferreira	€300,000	2010
5	Daniel Majstorović (Vice-captain 3)		CB	(1977-04-05)5 April 1977 (aged 32)	2008	Basel	Free	2011
6	Georgios Alexopoulos		CB / RB	(1977-02-07)7 February 1977 (aged 32)	2005	Egaleo	Free	2010
7	Juanfran		LB / LM / CB	(1976-07-15)15 July 1976 (aged 32)	2008	Real Zaragoza	Free	2010
12	Olivier N'Siabamfumu		CB / RB / DM	(1986-03-17)17 March 1986 (aged 23)	2009	Free agent	Free	2009
13	Dimitrios Koutromanos		RB / LB / DM	(1987-02-25)25 February 1987 (aged 22)	2009	Panetolikos	€50,000	2011
25	Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Captain)		CB	(1979-07-23)23 July 1979 (aged 29)	2008	Eintracht Frankfurt	Free	2013
31	Nikolaos Georgeas (Vice-captain 2)		RB / LB / DM	(1976-12-27)27 December 1976 (aged 32)	2001	Kalamata	€1,500,000	2010
Midfielders
1	Pantelis Kafes (Vice-captain)		CM / DM / AM / RM / LM	(1978-06-24)24 June 1978 (aged 31)	2007	Olympiacos	Free	2009
8	Tam Nsaliwa		DM / CM / CB	(1982-01-28)28 January 1982 (aged 27)	2007	Panionios	€400,000	2010
11	Gustavo Manduca		RM / AM / RW / LM / LW / CM / SS / ST	(1980-06-08)8 June 1980 (aged 29)	2007	Benfica	€800,000	2010
16	Vasilios Pliatsikas		DM / CM / RB / CB	(1988-04-20)20 April 1988 (aged 21)	2005	Chaidari	Free	2010
17	Antonis Rikka		DM / CM	(1986-03-03)3 March 1986 (aged 23)	2008	Skoda Xanthi	€600,000	2013
19	Panagiotis Lagos		LM / LW / LB / CM / DM	(1985-07-18)18 July 1985 (aged 23)	2006	Iraklis	€900,000	2010
24	Agustín Pelletieri		DM / CM	(1982-05-17)17 May 1982 (aged 27)	2008	Lanús	€700,000	2009
34	Panagiotis Tachtsidis		CM / DM / AM	(1991-02-15)15 February 1991 (aged 18)	2007	AEK Athens U20	—	2010
56	Përparim Hetemaj		CM / DM / AM / RM / LM / RW / LW	(1986-12-12)12 December 1986 (aged 22)	2006	HJK Helsinki	€450,000	2010
80	El Hadji Diouf		AM / CM	(1989-08-20)20 August 1989 (aged 19)	2007	Xam-Xam	Free	2011
90	Savvas Gentsoglou		DM / CB / CM	(1990-09-19)19 September 1990 (aged 18)	2006	AEK Athens U20	—	2013
Forwards
9	Edinho		ST / SS / RW	(1982-07-07)7 July 1982 (aged 26)	2008	Vitória de Setúbal	€350,000	2011
10	Rafik Djebbour		ST / SS / RW / LW	(1984-03-08)8 March 1984 (aged 25)	2008	Panionios	€3,200,000	2011
18	Ismael Blanco		ST / SS	(1983-01-19)19 January 1983 (aged 26)	2008	Colón	€850,000	2011
20	Nathan Burns		RW / SS / ST / LW / AM	(1988-05-07)7 May 1988 (aged 21)	2008	Adelaide United	€450,000	2012
32	Ignacio Scocco		SS / LW / AM / ST / LM / RW / RM	(1985-05-29)29 May 1985 (aged 24)	2008	UNAM	€1,500,000	2011
83	Michalis Pavlis		SS / ST / RW / LW	(1989-09-22)22 September 1989 (aged 19)	2006	AEK Athens U20	—	2011
Left during Summer Transfer Window
—	Rivaldo		AM / SS / LM	(1972-04-19)19 April 1972 (aged 37)	2007	Olympiacos	Free	2009
Left during Winter Transfer Window
2	Edson Ratinho		RB / RM / RW	(1986-05-31)31 May 1986 (aged 23)	2007	Mogi Mirim	€350,000	2012
14	Angelos Basinas		DM / CM / AM	(1976-01-03)3 January 1976 (aged 33)	2008	Mallorca	Free	2011
40	Panagiotis Zorbas		AM / RW / LM / LW / CM	(1987-04-21)21 April 1987 (aged 22)	2005	Bayer 04 Leverkusen U19	Free	2011

In

Summer

No.	Pos.	Player	From	Type	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
5	DF	Daniel Majstorović	Basel	Transfer	Free	1 July 2008	30 June 2011	[10]
7	DF	Juanfran	Real Zaragoza	Transfer	Free	30 July 2008	30 June 2010	[20]
9	FW	Edinho	Vitória de Setúbal	Transfer	€350,000	1 July 2008	30 June 2011	[32]
10	FW	Rafik Djebbour	Panionios	Transfer	€3,200,000	1 July 2008	30 June 2011	[33]
13	DF	Dimitrios Koutromanos	Anagennisi Karditsa	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2011
14	MF	Angelos Basinas	Mallorca	Transfer	Free	31 July 2008	30 June 2011	[21]
17	MF	Antonis Rikka	Skoda Xanthi	Transfer	€600,000	1 July 2008	30 June 2013	[9][34]
18	FW	Ismael Blanco	Colón	Transfer	€850,000	1 July 2008	30 June 2011	[35]
20	FW	Nathan Burns	Adelaide United	Transfer	€450,000	1 July 2008	30 June 2012	[14]
23	GK	Sebastián Saja	San Lorenzo	Transfer	Free	1 July 2008	30 June 2012	[12]
25	DF	Sotirios Kyrgiakos	Eintracht Frankfurt	Transfer	Free	1 August 2008	30 June 2013	[22]
32	FW	Ignacio Scocco	UNAM	Transfer	€1,500,000	1 July 2008	30 June 2011	[13]
40	MF	Panagiotis Zorbas	Panetolikos	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2011
56	MF	Përparim Hetemaj	Apollon Kalamarias	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2010
90	MF	Savvas Gentsoglou	Nea Ionia	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2011
–	GK	Stefano Sorrentino	Recreativo de Huelva	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2010
—	GK	Giannis Fysekis	Lamia	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2010
—	DF	Nikolaos Kourkoulas	Nea Ionia	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2010
—	DF	Panagiotis Stergiatos	Anagennisi Karditsa	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2008
—	DF	Nikos Barboudis	Fostiras	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2010
—	DF	Dimitrios Amarantidis	Anagennisi Karditsa	Transfer	Free	1 July 2008	30 June 2010
—	DF	Vasilios Vallianos	Nea Ionia	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2008
—	MF	Nikolaos Kaltsas	Acharnaikos	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2010
—	MF	Manolis Tsagarogiannakis	Thiva	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2008
—	MF	El Hadji Diouf	Ilisiakos	End of loan	—	1 July 2008	30 June 2011

Winter

No.	Pos.	Player	From	Type	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
12	DF	Olivier N'Siabamfumu	Free agent	Transfer	Free	11 February 2009	30 June 2009	[36]
80	MF	El Hadji Diouf	Anagennisi Karditsa	Loan termination	—	20 November 2008	30 June 2011	[37]
—	MF	Georgios Tofas	Anagennisi Karditsa	Loan termination	—	31 December 2008	30 June 2010

Out

Summer

No.	Pos.	Player	To	Type	Fee	Date	Source
3	DF	Rodolfo Arruabarrena	Tigre	Contract termintion	—	12 August 2008	[38]
5	DF	Traianos Dellas	Anorthosis Famagusta	Contract termintion	—	23 July 2008	[19]
7	FW	Charilaos Pappas	Skoda Xanthi	Transfer	€60,000	5 July 2008	[39]
9	FW	Pantelis Kapetanos	Steaua București	Contract termintion	—	1 July 2008	[16]
10	MF	Rivaldo	Bunyodkor	Transfer	€1,000,000	30 August 2008	[40]
14	DF	Federico Azcárate	Polideportivo Ejido	End of contract	—	22 July 2008	[41]
15	DF	Sokratis Papastathopoulos	Genoa	Transfer	€3,800,000[a]	1 August 2008	[42]
16	MF	Akis Zikos	Retired		—	30 June 2008	[43]
18	FW	Ismael Blanco	Colón	End of loan	—	30 June 2008
20	FW	Manú	Benfica	End of loan	—	30 June 2008
22	MF	Panagiotis Kone	Iraklis	Transfer	Free	29 August 2008	[44]
23	FW	Mohamed Kallon	Al Shabab	End of contract	—	1 July 2008	[45]
27	MF	Christos Bourbos	Iraklis	End of contract	—	1 July 2008	[46]
32	GK	Marcelo Moretto	Benfica	End of loan	—	30 June 2008
33	FW	Nikos Liberopoulos	Eintracht Frankfurt	Contract termintion	—	13 July 2008	[18]
36	FW	Edinho	Vitória de Setúbal	End of loan	—	30 June 2008
88	MF	Dániel Tőzsér	Genk	Transfer	€1,500,000	5 June 2008	[47]
99	FW	Júlio César	Rapid București	Transfer	Free	1 July 2008	[15]
—	DF	Panagiotis Stergiatos	Anagennisi Arta	End of contract	—	1 July 2008
—	DF	Vasilios Vallianos	Panachaiki	Transfer	Free	1 July 2008
—	MF	Manolis Tsagarogiannakis	Vyzas Megara	End of contract	—	1 July 2008	[48]

Winter

No.	Pos.	Player	To	Type	Fee	Date	Source
2	DF	Edson Ratinho	Mogi Mirim	Transfer	€350,000	27 January 2009	[30]
14	MF	Angelos Basinas	Portsmouth	Contract termination	—	2 February 2009	[31]

Loan in

Summer

No.	Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
24	MF	Agustín Pelletieri	Lanús	€700,000	1 September 2008	30 June 2009	Y	[27]

Loan out

Summer

No.	Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
—	GK	Stefano Sorrentino	Chievo Verona	€200,000	3 July 2008	30 June 2009	Y	[17]
—	GK	Giannis Fysekis	Apollon Kalamarias	Free	30 June 2008	30 June 2009	N
—	DF	Nikolaos Kourkoulas	Nea Ionia	Free	30 June 2008	30 June 2010	N
—	DF	Nikos Barboudis	Apollon Kalamarias	Free	23 July 2008	30 June 2009	N
—	DF	Dimitrios Amarantidis	Anagennisi Karditsa	Free	30 June 2008	30 June 2010	N
—	MF	Nikolaos Kaltsas	Chaidari	Free	30 June 2008	30 June 2010	N
—	MF	El Hadji Diouf	Anagennisi Karditsa	Free	30 June 2008	30 June 2009	N
—	MF	Georgios Tofas	Anagennisi Karditsa	Free	30 June 2008	30 June 2009	N

Winter

No.	Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
40	MF	Panagiotis Zorbas	Panetolikos	Free	31 December 2008	30 June 2009	N
—	MF	Georgios Tofas	Anorthosis Famagusta	Free	31 December 2008	30 June 2010	Y

Notes

Contract renewals

No.	Pos.	Player	Date	Former Exp. Date	New Exp. Date	Source
13	DF	Dimitris Koutromanos	25 June 2008	30 June 2010	30 June 2011	[49]
90	MF	Savvas Gentsoglou	25 June 2008	30 June 2009	30 June 2013	[49]

Overall transfer activity

Overall record

Super League Greece

Regular season

League table

Results summary

Results by Matchday

Fixtures

Play-offs

Table

Results summary

Results by Matchday

Fixtures

Greek Cup

AEK entered the Greek Cup at the Round of 32.

Matches

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

UEFA Cup

Second qualifying round

The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 1 August 2008.^[51]

AEK Athens v Omonia

14 August 2008 First leg	AEK Athens	0–1	Omonia	Athens, Greece
21:30 EEST (UTC+3)	Rivaldo  5' Scocco  90+1'	Report	Duro  18' Clayton  20' Cafu 40' Ndikumana  51'	Stadium: Olympic Stadium Attendance: 13,472 Referee: Serge Gumienny (Belgium)