1995–96 Greek Football Cup

The 1995–96 Greek Football Cup was the 54th edition of the Greek Football Cup.

1995–96 Greek Cup

Tournament details
Country	Greece
Teams	72
Defending champions	Panathinaikos
Final positions
Champions	AEK Athens (10th title)
Runners-up	Apollon Athens
Tournament statistics
Matches played	117
Top goal scorer(s)	Demis Nikolaidis (10 goals)
← 1994–95 1996–97 →

Tournament details

Totally 72 teams participated, 18 from Alpha Ethniki, 18 from Beta, and 36 from Gamma. It was held in 6 rounds, included final.

After the group stage, AEK Athens eliminated in succession Iraklis, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and Athinaikos, while in a big surprise Apollon Athens qualified in semi-finals against PAOK, with 3–1 in Toumba Stadium. For one more time, AEK Athens and Panathinaikos were drawn as opponents in the groups round, in order to be balloted again confronted in quarter-finals. In the final, Demis Nikolaidis played his last match as footballer of Apollon Athens, a few days before his transfer to AEK Athens.^[1]

AEK Athens won the cup after 13 years, shattering with 7–1 Apollon Athens, that reached for first and only time a Greek Cup final. AEK won the last title, after 4 championships, with Dušan Bajević as their coach.^[2]

Calendar

Round	Date(s)	Fixtures	Clubs	New entries
Group stage	20 August, 5, 25 October & 9 November 1995	56	72 → 32	72
Round of 32	29 November, 20 December 1995	32	32 → 16	none
Round of 16	3, 17 January 1996	16	16 → 8	none
Quarter-finals	31 January, 14 February 1996	8	8 → 4	none
Semi-finals	28 February, 13 March 1996	4	4 → 2	none
Final	15 May 1996	1	2 → 1	none

Group stage

The phase was played in a single round-robin format.

Group 1 Team Pts Panathinaikos 12 AEK Athens 9 Panegialios 6 Olympiacos Volos 1 Almopos Aridea 1

Group 2 Team Pts Panachaiki 10 AO Pyrgos 9 Chaidari 4 Anagennisi Karditsa 3 Kallithea 3

Group 3 Team Pts Apollon Athens 12 Panelfsiniakos 5 Atromitos 4 Kalamata 4 Ambelokipoi Thessaloniki 2

Group 4 Team Pts Agios Nikolaos 10 Anagennisi Giannitsa 8 Ethnikos Piraeus 7 Chalkida 3 Doxa Drama 0

Group 5 Team Pts Aris 10 Ialysos 7 EAR 6 Lamia 3 Charavgiakos 3

Group 6 Team Pts Iraklis 10 Doxa Vyronas 7 Ethnikos Asteras 6 Aiolkos 4 Eordaikos 1

Group 7 Team Pts PAOK 12 AO Chania 7 Korinthos 4 Pierikos 4 Kozani 1

Group 8 Team Pts Trikala 9 Athinaikos 9 Proodeftiki 7 PAS Giannina 4 Tyrnavos 0

Group 9 Team Pts Fokikos 6 OFI 5 Kastoria 4 Apollon Krya Vrysi 1

Group 10 Team Pts Pontioi Veria 9 Paniliakos 4 Apollon Larissa 2 Diagoras – Rodos Enosis 1

Group 11 Team Pts Apollon Kalamarias 6 AEL 6 Anagennisi Kolindros 4 Orestis Orestiada 1

Group 12 Team Pts Olympiacos 9 Veria 2 Panserraikos 2 Pannafpliakos 2

Group 13 Team Pts Ionikos 7 Agrotikos Asteras 5 Fostiras 2 Marko 1

Group 14 Team Pts Kavala 7 Varvasiakos 6 Edessaikos 4 Panargiakos 0

Group 15 Team Pts Nigrita 7 Panetolikos 6 Panionios 2 Velissario 1

Group 16 Team Pts Skoda Xanthi 7 Niki Volos 4 Levadiakos 4 Naoussa 1

Knockout phase

Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which were played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.
The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:

• There are no seedings, and teams from the same group can be drawn against each other.

Bracket

	Round of 32						Round of 16						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Panetolikos	3	1	4
	Varvasiakos	0	0	0			Panetolikos	1	2	3
	Apollon Athens	2	3	5			Apollon Athens	2	2	4
	Paniliakos	1	3	4									Apollon Athens	4	1	5
	Agrotikos Asteras	1	0	1									Skoda Xanthi	0	2	2
	Skoda Xanthi (a)	1	0	1			Skoda Xanthi	2	3	5
	Apollon Kalamarias	3	1	4			Apollon Kalamarias	0	0	0
	Kavala	0	3	3															Apollon Athens	1	3	4
	Fokikos	0	0	0															PAOK	1	1	2
	PAOK	1	5	6			PAOK	4	1	5
	Ionikos	4	4	8			Ionikos	1	0	1
	Panelefsiniakos	0	2	2									PAOK	3	2	5
	AO Chania	2	0	2									Trikala	0	1	1
	Trikala (a.e.t.)	0	4	4			Trikala	2	2	4
	Ialysos	3	2	5			Ialysos	0	0	0
	Agios Nikolaos	1	3	4																					Apollon Athens	1
	Nigrita	1	1	2																					AEK Athens	7
	Olympiacos	4	3	7			Olympiacos	1	1	2
	AEK Athens	1	2	3			AEK Athens	3	1	4
	Iraklis	0	0	0									AEK Athens	3	2	5
	Doxa Vyronas	1	2	3									Panathinaikos	1	2	3
	AEL	0	1	1			Doxa Vyronas	0	1	1
	Panachaiki	2	0	2			Panathinaikos	2	3	5
	Panathinaikos	2	3	5															AEK Athens	5	1	7
	Niki Volos	1	0	1															Athinaikos	0	0	0
	OFI	3	0	3			OFI	1	0	1
	Anagennisi Giannitsa	1	1	2			Aris	0	2	2
	Aris	0	3	3									Aris	2	0	2
	Athinaikos	4	3	1									Athinaikos	1	2	3
	Pontioi Veria	0	1	1			Athinaikos	5	2	7
	AO Pyrgos	0	1	1			Veria	2	1	3
	Veria	0	2	2

Round of 32

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Niki Volos	1–3	OFI	1–3	0–0
Ialysos	5–4	Agios Nikolaos	3–1	2–3
AO Pyrgos	1–2	Veria	0–0	1–2
Apollon Athens	5–4	Paniliakos	2–1	3–3
AO Chania	2–4	Trikala	2–0	0–4 (a.e.t.)
Athinaikos	7–1	Pontioi Veria	4–0	3–1
Panachaiki	2–5	Panathinaikos	2–2	0–3
AEK Athens	3–0	Iraklis	1–0	2–0
Apollon Kalamarias	4–3	Kavala	3–0	1–3
Panetolikos	4–0	Varvasiakos	3–0	1–0
Nigrita	2–7	Olympiacos	1–4	1–3
Ionikos	8–2	Panelefsiniakos	4–0	4–2
Agrotikos Asteras	1–1 (a)	Skoda Xanthi	1–1	0–0
Fokikos	0–6	PAOK	0–1	0–5
Doxa Vyronas	3–1	AEL	1–0	2–1
Anagennisi Giannitsa	2–3	Aris	1–0	1–3

Round of 16

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Doxa Vyronas	1–5	Panathinaikos	0–2	1–3
Panetolikos	3–4	Apollon Athens	1–2	2–2
OFI	1–2	Aris	1–0	0–2
PAOK	5–1	Ionikos	4–1	1–0
Olympiacos	2–4	AEK Athens	1–3	1–1
Trikala	4–0	Ialysos	2–0	2–0
Skoda Xanthi	5–0	Apollon Kalamarias	2–0	3–0
Athinaikos	7–3	Veria	5–2	2–1

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
AEK Athens	5–3	Panathinaikos	3–1	2–2
PAOK	5–1	Trikala	3–0	2–1
Aris	2–3	Athinaikos	2–1	0–2
Apollon Athens	5–2	Skoda Xanthi	4–0	1–2

Semi-finals

Summary

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
AEK Athens	6–0	Athinaikos	5–0	1–0
Apollon Athens	4–2	PAOK	1–1	3–1

Matches

28 February 1996

19:00 EET

AEK Athens	5–0	Athinaikos
Batista 19', 40', 90' Kopitsis 24' Kostis 73'	Report (page 4)

Nikos Goumas Stadium, Nea Filadelfeia

Attendance: 6,500

Referee: Michalis Kalathenos (Dodecanese)

13 March 1996

15:00 EET

Athinaikos	0–1	AEK Athens
	Report (page 4)	Kostenoglou 88'

Vyronas National Stadium, Vyronas

Attendance: 545

Referee: Malamas Tevekelis (Thessaloniki)

AEK Athens won 6–0 on aggregate.

---

28 February 1996

Apollon Athens	1–1	PAOK
Nikolaidis 58'	Report (page 4)	Alexiou 12'

Rizoupoli Stadium, Rizoupoli

Referee: Manolis Papatriantafyllou (Kilkis)

13 March 1996

PAOK	1–3	Apollon Athens
Gioukoudis 40' (pen.)	Report (page 4)	Kola 24' Nikolaidis 67', 75'

Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki

Referee: Giannis Latsios (Larissa)

Apollon Athens won 4–2 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 1996 Greek Football Cup final

15 May 1996

17:30 EEST

Apollon Athens	1–7	AEK Athens
Barnjak 78'	Report (page 5)	Batista 11', 34' Tsiartas 22', 48' (pen.), 76' Ketsbaia 60' Kostis 89'

Olympic Stadium, Marousi

Attendance: 31,563

Referee: Christos Sotiropoulos (Piraeus)