The 1997 Greek Cup final was the 53rd final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 16 April 1997 at Karaiskakis Stadium. The contesting teams were AEK Athens and Panathinaikos. It was AEK Athens' fifteenth Greek Cup final and fourth consecutive in their 73 years of existence and Panathinaikos' twenty third Greek Cup final in their 89-year history.[1] For third time in the 4 last years AEK Athens and Panathinaikos were pondered over in the final.[2] The loss of the Cup for Panathinaikos, combined with their 5-place finish in the championship, resulted in club not qualifying in any European competition for the first time in the last 25 years.
This was the twelfth Greek Cup final held at Karaiskakis Stadium, after the 1957, 1958, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1979 finals (Karaiskakis also hosted the replay match of the 1960 final between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos and the second leg of the 1992 two-legged final between PAOK and Olympiacos).
AEK Athens had reached the Greek Cup final fourteen times, winning nine of them. The last time that played in a final was in 1996, where they had won against Apollon Athens by 7–1.
Panathinaikos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty two times, winning fifteen of them. The last time that they had played the Cup was in 1995, where they had won against AEK Athens by 1–0 after extra time.
The two teams had met each other in a Cup final four times in the 1948, 1949, 1994 and 1995 finals.[4]
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