2017 Greek Football Cup final

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.^[1] 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.^[2] However, the match was marked by incidents between the fans of both clubs in the streets, inside and outside the stadium,^[3] 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.^[4]

2017 Greek Cup final

Match poster
Event	2016–17 Greek Football Cup
PAOK AEK Athens 2 1
Date	6 May 2017
Venue	Panthessaliko Stadium, Volos
Man of the Match	Diego Biseswar (PAOK)
Referee	Giorgos Kominis (Thesprotia)
Attendance	19,236
Weather	Fair 17 °C (63 °F) 43% humidity
← 2016 2018 →

Venue

Panthessaliko Stadium.

This was the second Greek Cup final held at Panthessaliko Stadium after the 2007 final.

Panthessaliko Stadium was built in 2004. The stadium is used as a venue for Niki Volos and Volos. Its current capacity is 22,189.^[5]

Background

PAOK had reached the Greek Cup final seventeen times, winning four of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 2003 (1–0 against Aris). The last time that had played in a final was in 2014, where they had lost to Panathinaikos by 4–1.

AEK Athens had reached the Greek Cup final twenty one times, winning fourteen of them. The last time that had played in a final was in 2016, where they had won Olympiacos by 2–1.

The two teams had met each other in a Cup final three times in the 1939, 1978 and 1983 finals.^[6]

Route to the final

Further information: 2016–17 Greek Football Cup

PAOK				Round	AEK Athens
Opponent	Result			Group stage	Opponent	Result
AEL	2–0 (H)			Matchday 1	Kerkyra	4–0 (H)
Trikala	0–0 (A)			Matchday 2	Anagennisi Karditsa	2–2 (H)
Panelefsiniakos	7–0 (A)			Matchday 3	Lamia	0–0 (A)
Group A winners Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 PAOK 3 7 2 Trikala 3 7 3 AEL 3 3 4 Panelefsiniakos 3 0 Source: epo.gr				Final standings	Group F winners Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 AEK Athens 3 5 2 Lamia 3 5 3 Kerkyra 3 4 4 Anagennisi Karditsa 3 1 Source: epo.gr
Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg	Knockout phase	Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
Panetolikos	6–1	2–0 (A)	4–1 (H)	Round of 16	Levadiakos	7–0	1–0 (A)	6–0 (H)
Xanthi	2–2 (a)	2–1 (A)	0–1 (H)	Quarter-finals	Platanias	3–0	0–0 (A)	3–0 (H)
Panathinaikos	4–2	0–2 (A)	4–0 (H)	Semi-finals	Olympiacos	2–2 (a)	2–1 (A)	0–1 (H)

Match

Details

6 May 2017

21:00 EEST

PAOK	2–1	AEK Athens
Biseswar 24' Henrique 81'	Report	Christodoulopoulos 26'

Panthessaliko Stadium, Volos

Attendance: 19,236

Referee: Giorgos Kominis (Thesprotia)

PAOK	AEK Athens

GK 71 Panagiotis Glykos (c)  90+4' RB  3 Léo Matos  70' CB 15 José Ángel Crespo  14' CB 43 Fernando Varela LB  4 Marin Leovac DM 87 José Cañas CM 28 Yevhen Shakhov CM 16 Gojko Cimirot  86' RW 10 Djalma Campos  73' LW 21 Diego Biseswar  90' CF  9 Aleksandar Prijović Substitutes: GK 99 Marios Siampanis DF 70 Stelios Kitsiou  90' DF 13 Stelios Malezas  86' MF 77 Dimitris Pelkas FW 11 Pedro Henrique  88'  73' FW 40 Nikolas Mattheou FW 33 Stefanos Athanasiadis Manager: Vladimir Ivić

GK 22 Giannis Anestis RB 12 Rodrigo Galo CB  4 Ognjen Vranješ CB 19 Dmytro Chyhrynskyi LB 23 Dídac Vilà DM 18 Jakob Johansson DM  8 André Simões  80'   83' RM  7 Lazaros Christodoulopoulos   86' LM 29 Patito Rodríguez  16'   68' AM 20 Petros Mantalos (c) CF 11 Sergio Araujo Substitutes: GK  1 Vasilis Barkas DF 26 Dimitrios Kolovetsios MF 25 Konstantinos Galanopoulos   68' MF 30 Ilias Tselios FW 10 Ronald Vargas   86' FW 28 Anastasios Bakasetas FW  9 Hugo Almeida   83' Manager: Manolo Jiménez

Man of the Match: Diego Biseswar (PAOK) Assistant referees: Christos Baltas (Achaea) Giorgos Kalfoglou (Thesprotia) Additional assistant referees: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (Dodecanese) Dimitris Thanos (Grevena) Fourth official: Charalambos Kalogeropoulos (Athens)

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions