1965–66 AEK Athens F.C. season

AEK Athens

1965–66 season
Chairman	Alexandros Makridis Georgios Toubalidis
Manager	Tryfon Tzanetis
Stadium	AEK Stadium
Alpha Ethniki	3rd
Greek Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Mimis Papaioannou (23) All: Mimis Papaioannou (28)
Highest home attendance	30,912 vs Panathinaikos (3 April 1966)
Lowest home attendance	3,122 vs Iraklis (12 June 1966)
Average home league attendance	13,078
Biggest win	AEK Athens 6–0 Niki Volos
Biggest defeat	Olympiacos 4–0 AEK Athens
Home colours
← 1964–65 1966–67 →

The 1965–66 season was the 42nd season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the seventh consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki and the Greek Cup. The season began on 28 November 1965 and finished on 10 July 1966.

The 1965–66 season was characterized both for AEK Athens and for Greek football in general, by both interesting and strange events. The strictness of the football authorities was the price paid by the yellow-blacks on the effort made at the beginning of the season with their agent and former player, Kleanthis Maropoulos, in order to cooperate with the representatives of the regional clubs, creating a block of reaction to the dominance of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos in the decisions of the centers of authority. The "eternals", alarmed by the coalition of the rest that Maropoulos seemed to be succeeding even threatened to withdraw from the national Championship, terrorizing the smaller ones with the suspicion of loss of revenue from it, delaying its start until 28 November, when the first matchday was set.^[1][2]

In AEK, the start of the season was overshadowed by the conflict between the management and Mimis Papaioannou and by the latter's decision to leave the pitches and turn to singing. The 23-year-old forward, having impressed Real Madrid officials with his performance and skills in a 3–3 friendly draw on 12 May 1965,^[3] was negotiating a transfer to the Spanish club and when he run into the management's refusal to his concession, he became bittered and withdrew from the club's activities.^[4] Taking advantage of his vocal abilities, he participated in the musical group that surrounded Stelios Kazantzidis, with whom he left for a tour in the Greek immigrants of Germany.^[5] The abstention of Papaioannou put an obstacle on the plans of AEK coach, Tryfon Tzanetis who in the summer of 1965 had taken care to shield the club with impressive transfers such as the defender of Apollon Athens, Tasos Vasiliou, the forward of PAO Safrafolis, Kostas Nikolaidis and the big star the Fostiras in the midfield, Panagiotis Ventouris, while Nikos Stathopoulos, Giorgos Karafeskos and Michalis Simigdalas were promoted from the infrastructure departments to the first team. The absence of Papaioannou from the team's preparation and his looming absence from their competitive duties forced Kostas Nestoridis, who had made the decision to leave AEK, to change his decision and remain with the team at the start of the season. However, due to his advanced age, Nestoridis was no more sufficient to fill the gap of Papaioannou and AEK started their competitive activities in the Championship with two defeats and one victory in the first 3 matches. Αt the beginning of December 1965, the differences between AEK and Papaioannou have begun to bridge and after getting a new contract of 500,000 drachmas, he returned to the team,^[6] shortly before the derby with Panathinaikos at the Leoforos Alexandras Stadium. Despite the fact that the lack of training caused him to suffer from cramps throughout the match, Papaioannou contributed to AEK's 2–3 victory by scoring one of the three goals while the other two scored by Kostas Nikolaidis.^[7] That match was the beginning of a 14-match undefeated streak, which brought the club on a distance of 3 points from the top. AEK was firmly in contention for the title, but the next two matches with the derbies at Karaiskakis Stadium against Olympiacos and in Nea Filadelfeia against Panathinaikos negated any hopes they may have had. On 27 March at Faliro, Olympiacos was sweeping, winning by 4–0 and in 3 April in the match against Panathinaikos, as the game was at 1–1 and while there had been previous violent episodes between the players in the first half, Panathinaikos scored at the 88th minute with Takis Loukanidis from an offside position. The referee awarded the goal and wild incidents occurred with the participation of fans entering the field, which resulted in the match permanently stopped at the expense of AEK, who were zeroed and the game awarded to Panathinaikos.^[8] These incidents, led the officials of AEK not to participate in the next match in Serres against Panserraikos as a sign of protest.^[9] AEK were again zeroed and the threat of relegation after a possible third zeroing forced the club to return to the Championship, eventually finishing 3rd.^[10]

AEK began their obligations in the Greek Cup eliminating Edessaikos at home for the round of 32, then Apollon Kalamarias away at the round of 16 and Ethnikos Piraeus at home in the quarter-finals. The semi-final draw that came out were AEK–Kavala and Olympiacos–Trikala. Kavala demanded that the match be played at their home ground citing a provision of the then regulations that stipulated that if one of the two teams came from Northern Greece in a pair of semi-finals, then the home team was automatically designated. AEK did not accept it, arguing that this regulation only concerned the clubs from Thessaloniki and not all clubs of Northern Greece in general. In order to reconcile things, the HFF, set the match at a neutral ground, the Kaftanzoglio Stadium, but Kavala refused to compete, insisting that the match should be played at their stadium. Thus, AEK advanced to the final as they were awarded the game without a match, where Olympiacos had already qualified after their 5–0 victory over Trikala. The definition by the HFF of setting the Final on 10 July 1966, at the Karaiskakis Stadium, brought the reactions of the Olympiacos whose management sent a letter to the Federation announcing their decision not to show up, protesting the advanced date in relation to the preparation of the club of Piraeus for the next season's European Cup. Thus, on 7 July, the HFF, unable to convince Olympiacos for their participation in the final, declared AEK the winner with a 2–0 victory without a match.^[11]

In the midst of such situations, Kostas Nestoridis, one of the greatest Greek footballers and one of the timeless "yellow-black" legends, departed from the club after 11 years of presence.^[12]

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 10 July 1966, 23:59 UTC+2.

Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Stelios Serafidis		GK	(1935-08-06)6 August 1935 (aged 30)	1953	AEK Athens U20	—	1972
Vangelis Petrakis		GK	(1938-09-07)7 September 1938 (aged 27)	1962	Aris	Free	1967
Theodoros Maniateas		GK	(1945-03-19)19 March 1945 (aged 21)	1964	Panthisiakos	Free	1969
Defenders
Alekos Sofianidis		LB / LM / LW	(1937-08-03)3 August 1937 (aged 28)	1959	Beşiktaş	Free	1969
Aleko Yordan		CB	(1938-01-10)10 January 1938 (aged 28)	1962	Beykoz	Free	1969
Tasos Vasiliou		CB	(1938-08-04)4 August 1938 (aged 27)	1965	Apollon Athens	₯1,500,000	1970
Giorgos Kefalidis		RB / CB	(1941-03-21)21 March 1941 (aged 25)	1964	Pierikos	Free	1972
Fotis Balopoulos		CB / DM / CM / ST	(1943-12-17)17 December 1943 (aged 22)	1964	Proodeftiki	₯450,000	1970
Lakis Fragoudakis		CB / DM	1944 (aged 21–22)	1964	Free agent	Free	1970
Midfielders
Giorgos Petridis		AM / SS / ST	(1938-02-10)10 February 1938 (aged 28)	1957	Pera Club	Free	1966
Stelios Skevofilakas		LM / RM / AM	(1939-01-06)6 January 1939 (aged 27)	1960	Eleftheroupoli	Free	1972
Fanis Tasinos		LM / CM	(1941-10-28)28 October 1941 (aged 24)	1963	Korinthos	₯500,000	1966
Nikos Stathopoulos		LM / LB	(1943-11-08)8 November 1943 (aged 22)	1965	AEK Athens U20	—	1974
Michalis Simigdalas		CM	(1944-06-23)23 June 1944 (aged 22)	1963	AEK Athens U20	—	1969
Giorgos Karafeskos		CM / DM / RM / RW	(1946-12-08)8 December 1946 (aged 19)	1963	AEK Athens U20	—	1974
Forwards
Andreas Stamatiadis (Captain)		RW / LW / SS / ST	(1935-08-16)16 August 1935 (aged 30)	1952	AEK Athens U20	—	1969
Dimitris Antoniou		RW / ST	1939 (aged 26–27)	1965	Apollon Limassol	Free	1968
Kostas Papageorgiou		ST	(1941-01-01)1 January 1941 (aged 25)	1963	Atromitos	₯200,000	1969
Mimis Papaioannou		SS / ST / AM	(1942-08-23)23 August 1942 (aged 23)	1962	Veria	₯175,000	1979
Spyros Pomonis		LW / LM	(1944-02-12)12 February 1944 (aged 22)	1960	AEK Athens U20	—	1973
Kostas Nikolaidis		RW / LW / SS / ST	(1944-09-10)10 September 1944 (aged 21)	1965	PAO Safrabolis	Free	1973
Nikos Sevastopoulos		RW / SS / AM / ST	(1945-02-26)26 February 1945 (aged 21)	1963	AEK Athens U20	—	1971
Left during season
Panagiotis Ventouris		AM / SS	(1943-03-01)1 March 1943 (aged 23)	1965	Fostiras	₯435,000	1972
Kostas Nestoridis		ST / SS	(1930-03-15)15 March 1930 (aged 36)	1955	Panionios	Free	1966

Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
DF	Tasos Vasiliou	Apollon Athens	₯1,500,000[a]	1 August 1965	30 June 1970
MF	Nikos Stathopoulos	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	1 July 1965	30 June 1974
MF	Panagiotis Ventouris	Fostiras	₯435,000	1 July 1965	30 June 1972
FW	Dimitris Antoniou	Apollon Limassol	Free transfer	1 July 1965	30 June 1968
FW	Kostas Nikolaidis	PAO Safrabolis	Free transfer	1 July 1965	30 June 1973
FW	Nikos Sevastopoulos	Hellenic	Loan return	1 July 1965	30 June 1971

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Source
DF	Panagiotis Stasinopoulos	Apollon Athens	Free transfer	1 August 1965
DF	Theofilos Vernezis	Free agent	End of contract	1 July 1965
DF	Manolis Kanellopoulos	Egaleo	End of contract	1 July 1965
MF	Miltos Papapostolou	Retired		1 July 1965
MF	Emilios Theofanidis	PAOK	End of contract	1 July 1965
FW	Lefter Küçükandonyadis	Retired		1 July 1965
FW	Kostas Nestoridis	South Melbourne Hellas	Free transfer[13]	29 March 1966	[14][15]

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Until	Option to buy	Source
MF	Panagiotis Ventouris	Hellenic	Free	1 January 1966	30 June 1966	N

Pos.	Player	Date	Former Exp. Date	New Exp. Date	Source
FW	Mimis Papaioannou	23 December 1965	30 June 1970	30 June 1979	[6]

Expenditure: ₯1,935,000

Income: ₯0

Net Total: ₯1,935,000

AEK Athens v Pakhtakor

29 August 1965 Friendly	AEK Athens	0–1	Pakhtakor	Nea Filadelfeia
				Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v Lokomotiv Sofia

2 September 1965 Friendly	AEK Athens	2–0	Lokomotiv Sofia	Ampelokipoi
17:00 EET (UTC+2)	Nestoridis 23', 23' Nikolaidis 72'			Stadium: Leoforos Alexandras Stadium Referee: 10,000

AEK Athens v Marko

16 February 1966 Friendly	AEK Athens	7–0	Marko	Nea Filadelfeia
	Papageorgiou 15' Karafeskos 35' Papaioannou 40', 50' Stamatiadis 58', 60', 70'	[16]		Stadium: AEK Stadium Attendance: 1,000

AEK Athens v Spyros Louis

24 February 1966 Friendly	AEK Athens	12–0	Spyros Louis	Nea Filadelfeia
	Papageorgiou Papaioannou Karafeskos Pomonis Simigdalas Nikolaidis Stamatiadis	[17]		Stadium: AEK Stadium Referee: Georgios Magiras

AEK Athens v Aarhus

9 March 1966 Friendly	AEK Athens	2–1	Aarhus	Nea Filadelfeia
	Yordan 3' Nikolaidis 68'	[18]	Beck 13'	Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v P.O. Patisia

24 March 1966 Friendly	AEK Athens	5–0	P.O. Patisia	Nea Filadelfeia
	Nikolaidis Skevofilakas Papaioannou	[19]		Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK Athens v Stirling Albion

15 June 1966 Friendly	AEK Athens	2–0	Stirling Albion	Nea Filadelfeia
17:30 EET (UTC+2)	Papaioannou 30' Stathopoulos 41'			Stadium: AEK Stadium

AEK entered the Greek Cup at the round of 32.

As of 10 July 1966

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Stelios Serafidis	11	0	3	0	14	0
—	GK	Vangelis Petrakis	17	0	0	0	17	0
—	GK	Theodoros Maniateas	1	0	0	0	1	0
Defenders
—	DF	Alekos Sofianidis	29	0	3	0	32	0
—	DF	Aleko Yordan	26	2	2	0	28	2
—	DF	Tasos Vasiliou	29	0	3	0	32	0
—	DF	Giorgos Kefalidis	18	0	1	0	19	0
—	DF	Fotis Balopoulos	13	0	2	0	15	0
—	DF	Lakis Fragoudakis	2	0	1	0	3	0
Midfielders
—	MF	Giorgos Petridis	8	1	1	0	9	1
—	MF	Stelios Skevofilakas	27	1	2	0	29	1
—	MF	Fanis Tasinos	2	0	1	0	3	0
—	MF	Nikos Stathopoulos	5	1	2	0	7	1
—	MF	Michalis Simigdalas	4	1	0	0	4	1
—	MF	Giorgos Karafeskos	22	3	3	1	25	4
Forwards
—	FW	Andreas Stamatiadis	28	6	3	0	31	6
—	FW	Kostas Papageorgiou	15	7	0	0	15	7
—	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	25	23	3	5	28	28
—	FW	Spyros Pomonis	10	1	0	0	10	1
—	FW	Kostas Nikolaidis	21	11	3	3	24	14
—	FW	Nikos Sevastopoulos	0	0	0	0	0	0
Left during season
—	MF	Panagiotis Ventouris	3	0	0	0	3	0
—	FW	Kostas Nestoridis	3	1	0	0	3	1

As of 10 July 1966

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Total
1	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	23	5	28
2	FW	Kostas Nikolaidis	11	3	14
3	FW	Kostas Papageorgiou	7	0	7
4	FW	Andreas Stamatiadis	6	0	6
5	MF	Giorgos Karafeskos	3	1	4
6	DF	Aleko Yordan	2	0	2
7	MF	Michalis Simigdalas	1	0	1
	MF	Stelios Skevofilakas	1	0	1
	MF	Nikos Stathopoulos	1	0	1
	MF	Giorgos Petridis	1	0	1
	FW	Spyros Pomonis	1	0	1
	FW	Kostas Nestoridis	1	0	1
Own goals			0	0	0
Totals			58	9	67

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition	Source
Mimis Papaioannou	Edessaikos	4–3 (H)	6 January 1966	Greek Cup
Kostas Nikolaidis	Niki Volos	6–0 (H)	6 March 1966	Alpha Ethniki
Mimis Papaioannou	PAOK	5–1 (H)	17 April 1966	Alpha Ethniki	[20]
Mimis Papaioannou	Panionios	5–1 (H)	1 May 1966	Alpha Ethniki
Mimis Papaioannou	Egaleo	4–1 (H)	15 May 1966	Alpha Ethniki

The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal and then alphabetically by surname. Clean sheets in games where both goalkeepers participated are awarded to the goalkeeper who started the game. Goalkeepers with no appearances are not included.

As of 10 July 1966

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Total
1	Vangelis Petrakis	8	0	8
2	Stelios Serafidis	4	1	5
3	Theodoros Maniateas	1	0	1
Totals		13	1	14

As of 10 July 1966

N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup			Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Stelios Serafidis
—	GK		Vangelis Petrakis
—	GK		Theodoros Maniateas
Defenders
—	DF		Alekos Sofianidis
—	DF		Aleko Yordan
—	DF		Tasos Vasiliou
—	DF		Giorgos Kefalidis
—	DF		Fotis Balopoulos
—	DF		Lakis Fragoudakis
Midfielders
—	MF		Giorgos Petridis
—	MF		Stelios Skevofilakas
—	MF		Fanis Tasinos
—	MF		Nikos Stathopoulos
—	MF		Michalis Simigdalas
—	MF		Giorgos Karafeskos
Forwards
—	FW		Andreas Stamatiadis
—	FW		Kostas Papageorgiou
—	FW		Mimis Papaioannou
—	FW		Spyros Pomonis
—	FW		Kostas Nikolaidis
—	FW		Nikos Sevastopoulos
Left during season
—	FW		Kostas Nestoridis
—	MF		Panagiotis Ventouris

Player	Pos.	Award	Source
Mimis Papaioannou	FW	Alpha Ethniki Top Scorer

• AEK Athens F.C. Official Website
• A.E.K. FC Database