1999–2000 Greek Football Cup


The 1999–2000 Greek Football Cup was the 58th edition of The Greek Football Cup, or Greek Football Cup.

Tournament details

Totally 56 teams participated, 18 from Alpha Ethniki, 18 from Beta, and 20 from Gamma. It was held in 6 rounds, included final. An additional round was held between first and second, with 4 matches, in order that the teams would continue to be 16.
This year came back the phase of groups in the First round, after its provisional three-year suppression. Until quarter-finals, all matches were single. The most interesting round was Second, after drawing of Olympiacos against PAOK and Aris against Panathinaikos, with the home teams to take the qualification with difficulty.
Final was contested by AEK Athens, who previously eliminated rivals Olympiacos, and Ionikos, for their first and only time in history, having favourable draws in their course to the Final, but also after a very difficult qualification from First round in the goals difference, after triple equivalence in standings with Leonidio and Panetolikos. However, the win with score 8–0 against Nafpaktiakos Asteras in quarter-finals was remarkable.
AEK Athens easily won the game 3-0 and earned their 12th cup in club's history. A remarkable moment of the Final was when Nikolaidis scored using his hand and while the scoreline was 0–0 at the time. The goal was disallowed after an indication of the scorer to referee Giorgos Douros, who initially counted the goal. Nikolaidis was honoured with an international fair-play award in 2002 for showing good sportmanship.

First round

The phase was played in a single round-robin format. Each win gained 3 points, each draw gained 1 point, and each loss did not gain any points.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8

Group 9

Marko and Neapoli qualified without matches in the Additional Round.

Additional Round

Home teamScoreAway team
Neapoli Thessaloniki2–1PAS Giannina
Paniliakos0–1Olympiacos
Kavala1–2Panionios
Ionikos4–1Marko

Second round

Matches were held on 12 January 2000.
Home teamScoreAway team
AEK Athens6–0Trikala
Nafpaktiakos Asteras1–0Neapoli Thessaloniki
OFI3–0Agersani
Ethnikos Asteras3–3 Panionios
Kalamata3–0Proodeftiki
Ionikos4–2Iraklis
Olympiacos2–1PAOK
Aris1–1 Panathinaikos

Quarter-finals

First legs were held on 9, 10, 16 and 17 February 2000. Second legs on 1, 2, 8 and 9 March.
Team No. 1Agg.Team No. 21st leg2nd leg
Ionikos9–2Nafpaktiakos Asteras8–01–2
Aris0–2Panionios0–00–2
Olympiacos1–4AEK Athens1–10–3
OFI1–3Kalamata1–00–3

Semi-finals

First legs were held on 12 April 2000 and second were held on 19th.
Team No. 1Agg.Team No. 21st leg2nd leg
AEK Athens5–3Panionios4–11–2
Kalamata2–6Ionikos0–22–4

Final

The 56th Greek Cup Final was played at the Athens Olympic Stadium "Spyridon Louis".