PAOK FC, short for "Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans", and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional football club based in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. PAOK are one of the top domestic clubs, the most widely supported in Northern Greece and the current Greek Super League champions.
Panathinaikos Football Club, known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO, is a Greek professional football club based in Athens, Greece.
The 1990–91 season was PAOK Football Club's 64th in existence and the club's 32nd consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. The team entered the Greek Football Cup in first round and faced Sevilla in the UEFA Cup.
The 1994–95 season was PAOK Football Club's 68th in existence and the club's 36th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. The team entered the Greek Football Cup in first round. By finishing 3rd in the league, PAOK would normally qualify for the next season's UEFA Cup, but Apollon Athens who finished 4th replaced them, because the club was carrying a 1-year ban from European competitions after being charged by UEFA for the eventful match against Paris Saint-Germain on 1 October 1992. PAOK conceded only 3 goals in 17 matches at home during the 1994–95 Alpha Ethniki.
The 2010 Greek Cup final was the 66th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 24 April 2010 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Panathinaikos and Aris. It was Panathinaikos' twenty eighth Greek Cup final in their 102-year history and Aris' ninth Greek Cup final in their 96 years of existence. Aris achieved a record of most mass movement of fans in Greece. About 25,000 Aris' fans followed their team to the Olympic Stadium forming a queue of many kilometers on the Thessaloniki-Athens highway from a number of buses, as well as cars. It was characteristic that the last vehicle of the procession arrived at the stadium three hours after the arrival of the first.
The 2009 Greek Cup final was the 65th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 2 May 2009 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were AEK Athens and Olympiacos. It was AEK Athens' nineteenth Greek Cup final in their 85-year history and Olympiacos' thirty fourth Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 84 years of existence. With 8 goals, including 2 turnarounds and a penalty shoot-out of 29 penalties in total, the match was widely considered as the most entertaining final in the tournament. It was the last match for the captain of Olympiacos, Predrag Đorđević as a footballer, having spent 13 years of his 17 years playing for the club.
The 2005 Greek Cup final was the 61st final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 21 May 2005 at Pampeloponnisiako Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and Aris. It was Olympiacos' thirty first Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 80 years of existence and Aris' seventh Greek Cup final in their 91-year history. It was the first time that the match was held outside Athens or Thessaloniki Prefecture. It is characteristic that Aris had already been relegated to the second division during his presence in the final, with the result that the competitive and psychologically superior Olympiacos reached the conquest of the cup and consequently the double, while Dušan Bajević reached the 4th cup win as a coach. The following season, Aris, as a cup finalist played in the UEFA Cup thus becoming the first and only second division team in Greece that ever competed in any European competition.
The 2002 Greek Cup final was the 58th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 27 April 2002 at Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were AEK Athens and Olympiacos. It was AEK Athens' seventeenth Greek Cup final in their 78 years of existence and Olympiacos' twenty-ninth Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 77-year history. For the 5th and last time, the President of the Republic, Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, honored the final with his presence, awarding the trophy to the players of the winning team.
The 2001 Greek Cup final was the 57th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 12 May 2001 at Nikos Goumas Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and PAOK. It was Olympiacos' twenty-ninth Greek Cup final in their 76 years of existence and PAOK's fifteenth Greek Cup final in their 75-year history. A draw was preceded on 19 April to determine in which stadium/city the final would be hosted: Nikos Goumas Stadium in Athens or Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki. Several days before the game, Olympiacos president Sokratis Kokkalis made a memorable statement using a Greek expression that Olympiacos would lose the upcoming final only if "the devil broke his leg", meaning that it was almost impossible for his team to lose. However, PAOK won the match by 4–2 with an impressive performance and earned the trophy 27 years after their last success, in the same stadium against the same opponent. During the awarding ceremony, former goalkeeper and member of the coaching staff of PAOK, Mladen Furtula whispered to Kokkalis that the devil indeed broke his leg that day and the latter responded with a laugh. The manager of PAOK, Dušan Bajević became the first in history to win the trophy with three different clubs, as he had previously won it in 1996 with AEK Athens and in 1999 with Olympiacos.
The 2017 Greek Cup final was the 73rd final of the Greek Cup. It took place on 6 May 2017 at Panthessaliko Stadium. The contesting teams were PAOK and AEK Athens. It was PAOK's eighteenth Greek Cup final in their 91 years of existence and AEK Athens' twenty second Greek Cup final and second consecutive, of their 93-year history. The HFF announcement for the 2016–17 Greek Cup mentioned the Olympic Stadium as the host for the final, but PAOK had clarified that they did not want to play at AEK Athens' home stadium, suggesting the Pankritio Stadium, however, the Federation chose the Panthessaliko Stadium. It was a stadium that until the completion of the semi-finals, did not actually exist on the table. The people of Thessaly Football Clubs Association quickly made the decision to submit a file after the qualification of PAOK to the final. In fact, within two hours, they tilted the plate in favor of conducting the game in their area, submitting a complete file. So it was decided that the final would take place at Volos with fans of both clubs and special constructions for the security in the conduction of the match. However, the match was marked by incidents between the fans of both clubs in the streets, inside and outside the stadium, where also was an invasion on the pitch by PAOK fans before the beginning of the match which resulted in punishment on both clubs for the next season.
The 2018 Greek Cup final was the 74th final of the Greek Cup. It took place on 12 May 2018 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were AEK Athens and PAOK for a second time in row. It was AEK Athens' twenty third Greek Cup final and third consecutive, of their 94-year history and PAOK's nineteenth Greek Cup final and second consecutive, in their 92 years of existence.
The 2019 Greek Cup final was the 75th final of the Greek Cup. It took place on 11 May 2019 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were PAOK and AEK Athens for a third time in row. It was PAOK's twentieth Greek Cup final and third consecutive, in their 93 years of existence and AEK Athens' twenty fourth Greek Cup final and fourth consecutive, of their 95-year history. For security issues, the match occurred behind closed doors with 1,500 invitations been distributed by both clubs and the HFF. With their conquest of the Cup, PAOK achieved the first double in their history.
The 2021 Greek Cup final was the 77th final of the Greek Cup. It took place on 22 May 2021 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and PAOK. It was Olympiacos' forty-first Greek Cup final and second consecutive, in their 96 years of existence and PAOK's twenty first Greek Cup final of their 95-year history.
The 2022 Greek Cup final was the 78th final of the Greek Cup. It took place on 21 May 2022 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Panathinaikos and PAOK. It was Panathinaikos' thirtieth Greek Cup final in their 114 years of existence and PAOK's twenty second Greek Cup final and second consecutive, of their 96-year history. The game was marked by incidents and specifically, when Aitor after scoring for Panathinaikos celebrated in front of the stands of the PAOK ultras. As a result, he a stone was thrown to his hand, injuring him with tensions occuring between the players of both teams immediately after. The refere interrupted the match and in fact, as he headed to the locker room, he was holding the stone that hit the player.
The 1999 Greek Cup final was the 55th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 5 May 1999 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. It was Panathinaikos' twenty fifth Greek Cup final and third consecutive in their 91 years of existence and Olympiacos' twenty-eighth Greek Cup final in their 74-year history. With their victory Olympiacos won the double after 18 years, while Panathinaikos became the first team to lose in a Greek Cup final three times in a row.
The 1995 Greek Cup final was the 51st final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 19 April 1995 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Panathinaikos and AEK Athens for a second time in row. It was Panathinaikos' twenty second Greek Cup final and third consecutive in their 87 years of existence and AEK Athens' fourtheenth Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 71-year history. In contrast to the sensational last season's final of the two teams, this year's match was marked by incidents on and off the pitch, by the moment that the referee, Filippos Bakas awarded a penalty in favour of Panathinaikos a few minutes before the end of extra time. This event caused protests, expulsions and riots between fans of both teams with a total of 21 arrests by the police. Furthermore, certain footballers of AEK Athens denied to attend the title ceremony. Bakas managed to escape from the players of the yellow-blacks with a torn sleeve but a few days later a group of strangers attacked him in a street near to the airport of Elliniko. A couple of days after the final, the president of AEK, Dimitris Melissanidis had a phone call with Bakas live on the TV, with the referee implying the invomvent of Melissanidis in his beating with president of AEK responding that the only thing he knows is that the referee is showing his "red underwear" all over Greece.
The 1994 Greek Cup final was the 50th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 20 April 1994 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Panathinaikos and AEK Athens. It was Panathinaikos' twenty first Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 86 years of existence and AEK Athens' thirteenth Greek Cup final in their 70-year history. A remarkable fact was that the 2 finalists were drawn in the same group at the start of the tournament. The match was characterized as the one of the most sensational finals in history of the institution and was compared to the 1976 final. AEK Athens lost the chance to win the double, since they eventually won the championship.
The 1993 Greek Cup final was the 49th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 12 May 1993 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. It was Olympiacos' twenty-seventh Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 68 years of existence and Panathinaikos' twentieth Greek Cup finalin their 85-year history. Before the match, the manager of Olympiacos Nikos Alefantos had a peculiar idea. He made all his football players to get a haircut as he thought it would work as a charm. Additionally at that time, short hair was not that fashionable and most footballers had long hairstyle. In the end, Olympiacos saw his trick with the haircuts not succeeding, with the only thing that they achieved was for the match to be remembered as the "final of the shaved heads".
The 1988 Greek Cup final was the 44th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 8 May 1988 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. It was Olympiacos' twenty-fourth Greek Cup final in their 63 years of existence and Panathinaikos' seventeenth Greek Cup final in their 80-year history. Both clubs were extra motivated for the title since were out of the championship race and were looking for a ticket to the UEFA competition. The match went into penalty shoot-out where the goalkeeper of Panathinaikos, Nikos Sarganis emerged as the hero for his team, saving two penalties and scoring one. In an future interview, the Greek goalkeeper revealed that the owner of Olympiacos, George Koskotas attempted to bribe him for reduced performance in the final. That would be the second time Koskotas was accused for attempted bribery, as he did the same as well on Theologis Papadopoulos and Vasilios Vasilakos of AEK Athens at the round of 16.
The 1972 Greek Cup final was the 28th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 5 July 1972 at Karaiskakis Stadium. The contesting teams were PAOK and Panathinaikos. It was PAOK's sixth Greek Cup final and third consecutive in their 46 years of existence and Panathinaikos' eleventh Greek Cup final in their 64-year history. PAOK won the first title in their history, at the same time deprived their opponent of the double.
