2007–08 AEK Athens F.C. season

AEK Athens
2007–08 season
Chairman	Demis Nikolaidis
Manager	Lorenzo Serra Ferrer; (until 12 February 2008); Nikos Kostenoglou
Superleague Greece	3rd (2nd in regular season)
Greek Cup	Fifth round
Champions League	Third qualifying round
UEFA Cup	Round of 32
Top goalscorer	League: ; Ismael Blanco (19); All: ; Ismael Blanco (21)
Highest home attendance	40,955 vs Olympiacos; (30 March 2008)
Lowest home attendance	5,032 vs Panathinaikos; (14 May 2008)
Average home league attendance	20,228
	← 2006–07 2008–09 →

For the 2007/08 season, AEK Athens F.C. competed in its 49th consecutive season in the Greek topflight.

Overview

AEK bolstered the strength of their squad with the signings of Brazilian legend Rivaldo, following up with several other strong signings in Arruabarrena and Ismael Blanco. The club sold 25,495 season tickets.

After finishing 2nd in Superleague Greece previous season, AEK entered the UEFA Champions League in the 3rd Qualifying round. On 3 August, AEK were drawn against Sevilla FC, the first leg was played in Seville on 15 August, while the second leg was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium. After being eliminated from the UEFA Champions League, AEK were drawn to play with FC Salzburg in the UEFA Cup. After defeating Salzburg 3–1 on aggregate, AEK were on 9 October drawn in Group C in the UEFA Cup group stage along with Villarreal, Fiorentina, Mladá Boleslav, and Elfsborg. On 20 December, AEK booked their place in the knockout stage finishing third in the group. AEK were drawn to play Getafe CF in the next round of the UEFA Cup where they were knocked out 4–1 on aggregate. On 12 February AEK parted company with Llorenç after a poor run of form and un-successful signings.^[1] The team initially finished in the first place in the league, but after the court case between Apollon Kalamarias and Olympiacos for the illegal line-up of a player in the 1–0 Apollon Kalamaria win earlier in the season, Olympiacos were awarded the 3 points thus finishing 2 points ahead of AEK. AEK then finished 2nd in the national playoffs which saw them qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Players

Squad information

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	MF	GRE	Pantelis Kafes
2	DF	BRA	Edson Ramos Silva
3	DF	ARG	Rodolfo Arruabarrena
4	DF	POR	Geraldo Alves
5	DF	GRE	Traianos Dellas (Captain)
6	DF	GRE	Georgios Alexopoulos
7	FW	GRE	Charilaos Pappas
8	MF	CAN	Tam Nsaliwa
9	FW	GRE	Pantelis Kapetanos
10	MF	BRA	Rivaldo
11	FW	BRA	Gustavo Manduca
14	MF	ARG	Federico Azcárate
15	DF	GRE	Socratis Papastathopoulos
16	MF	GRE	Akis Zikos
18	FW	ARG	Ismael Blanco
19	MF	GRE	Panagiotis Lagos


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
20	MF	POR	Manú
22	MF	GRE	Panagiotis Kone
23	MF	SLE	Mohammed Kallon
25	MF	GRE	Vasileios Pliatsikas
27	MF	GRE	Christos Bourbos
31	DF	GRE	Nikolaos Georgeas
32	GK	BRA	Marcelo Moretto
33	FW	GRE	Nikos Liberopoulos
34	MF	GRE	Panagiotis Tachtsidis
36	FW	POR	Edinho
50	GK	AUT	Jürgen Macho
80	FW	CYP	Giorgos Tofas
83	FW	GRE	Michalis Pavlis
84	GK	GRE	Giannis Arabatzis
88	MF	HUN	Dániel Tőzsér
99	FW	BRA	Júlio César

Players out on loan

N	Pos.	Name	Age	EU	Since	App (L/C/E)	Goals (L/C/E)	Ends	Transfer fee	Notes
—	GK	Sorrentino	29	EU	2005	64 (50/3/11)	0 (0/0/0)	2010	€100K	to Recreativo Huelva
—	RB	Barboudis	19	EU	2007	0 (0/0/0)	0 (0/0/0)	2010	€60Κ	to Fostiras
—	RB	Koutromanos	22	EU	2005	0 (0/0/0)	0 (0/0/0)	2011	€50K	to Anagennisi Karditsa
—	DM	Gentsoglou	17	EU	2006	0 (0/0/0)	0 (0/0/0)	2013	Youth system	to Nea Ionia
—	DM	Paligeorgos	18	EU	2006	1 (1/0/0)	0 (0/0/0)	2011	Youth system	to Anagennisi Karditsa
56	CM	Hetemaj	21	EU	2006	13 (7/2/4)	0 (0/0/0)	2010	€450Κ	to Apollon Kalamarias
—	RW	Diouf	19	Non-EU	2007	0 (0/0/0)	0 (0/0/0)	2011	Youth system	to Ilisiakos
—	RW	Zorbas	21	EU	2004	0 (0/0/0)	0 (0/0/0)	2011	Youth system	to Panetolikos

Last updated: 2008-05-14
Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Ordered by position on pitch.

International players

Squad changes

Charilaos Pappas (2009)
Jürgen Macho (2010-03-03)
Manú (2011)
Edson Ratinho (2011)
Geraldo Alves (2010)
Rodolfo Arruabarrena (2007)
Panagiotis Tachtsidis (2012-07-25)

In:

No.	Pos.	Name	Age	EU	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Source
3	LB	Arruabarrena	31	EU	Villarreal	Transfer	Summer	2010	Free	aekfc.gr
83	CF	Pavlis	17	EU	Youth system	Promotion	Summer	2010	—
11	LW	Manduca	26	EU	Youth system	Transfer	Summer	2010	€750K	aekfc.gr
2	RB	Edson Ratinho	20	Non-EU	Mogi Mirim	Transfer	Summer	2012	€250K	aekfc.gr
8	DM	Nsaliwa	25	EU	Panionios	Transfer	Summer	2010	€450K	aekfc.gr
10	SS	Rivaldo	35	EU	Olympiacos	Transfer	Summer	2009	Free	aekfc.gr
27	RM	Bourbos	23	EU	Kerkyra	Loan return	Summer	2010	—
40	RW	Zorbas	17	EU	Niki Volos	Loan return	Summer	2011	—
80	RW	Tofas	17	EU	Ethnikos Piraeus	Loan return	Summer	2010	—
87	RB	Koutromanos	20	EU	Thrasyvoulos	Loan return	Summer	2011	—
4	CB	Geraldo	26	EU	Paços de Ferreira	Transfer	Summer	2010	€300K	uefa.com
14	CB	Azcárate	23	EU	Atlético Madrid	Transfer	Summer	2011	Free	aekfc.gr
7	SS	Pappas	24	EU	Olympiacos	Transfer	Summer	2010	Free	aekfc.gr
89	RB	Barboudis	18	EU	Ilisiakos	Transfer	Summer	2010	€60K
32	GK	Moretto	29	Non-EU	Benfica	Loan	Summer	2008	Free	uefa.com
—	RW	Diouf	18	Non-EU	Xam-Xam	Transfer	Summer	2011	Free	aekfc.gr
18	CF	Blanco	23	Non-EU	Colón	Loan	Summer	2008	€450K	aekfc.gr
20	RW	Manú	25	EU	Benfica	Loan	Summer	2008	Free
50	GK	Macho	30	EU	1. FC Kaiserslautern	Transfer	Summer	2009	€300K	aekfc.gr
34	CM	Tachtsidis	16	EU	Youth system	Promotion	Summer	2010	—
—	DM	Gentsoglou	17	EU	Panachaiki	Loan return	Winter	2013	—
23	AM	Kallon	28	Non-EU	Monaco	Transfer	Winter	2008	Free	aekfc.gr
36	CF	Edinho	25	EU	Vitória de Setúbal	Loan	Winter	2008	€150K

Total spending: €2,71M

Out:

N	Pos.	Name	Age	EU	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
13	RB	Pautasso	27	EU	Olimpia	Released	Summer	Free	aekfc.gr
5	CB	Cirillo	30	EU	Levante	Released	Summer	Free	aekfc.gr
11	LW	Manduca	26	EU	Benfica	Loan return	Summer	—	aekfc.gr
79	CF	Kampantais	25	EU	Arminia Bielefeld	End of contract	Summer	Free	arminia-bielefeld.de
14	LB	Tziortziopoulos	28	EU	Omonia Nicosia	End of contract	Summer	Free	aekfc.gr
7	DM	Kyriakidis	21	EU	Larissa	Transfer	Summer	€300K	uefa.com
25	DM	Emerson	35	Non-EU	APOEL	End of contract	Summer	Free	uefa.com
4	CB	Moras	25	EU	Bologna	End of contract	Summer	Free
22	GK	Chiotis	30	EU	Kerkyra	End of contract	Summer	Free
22	RW	Lakis	30	EU	PAOK	Released	Summer	Free	aekfc.gr
28	GK	Sorrentino	28	EU	Recreativo	Loan	Summer	€340K	aekfc.gr
—	RW	Zorbas	20	EU	Panachaiki	Loan	Summer	Free
—	CF	Komvolidis	19	EU	Iraklis Thessaloniki	Released	Summer	Free
17	AM	Ivić	30	Non-EU	Aris	Released	Summer	Free
90	DM	Gentsoglou	16	EU	Panachaiki	Loan	Summer	Free
—	RW	Diouf	19	Non-EU	Ilisiakos	Loan	Winter	Free
56	CM	Hetemaj	21	EU	Apollon Pontus	Loan	Winter	Free
—	DM	Gentsoglou	17	EU	Nea Ionia	Loan	Winter	Free

Total income: €640K

Last updated: 2010-01-06

Out: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
77	MF	GRE	Giorgos Paligiorgos (on loan to Anagennisi Karditsa)
87	DF	GRE	Dimitris Koutromanos (on loan to Anagennisi Karditsa)

Out: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
89	DF	GRE	Nikos Barboudis (on loan to Fostiras)

Squad stats

Players in italics have left during the season.

				Total						Super League Greece					Greek Cup					UEFA Champions League					UEFA Cup
Country	N	P	Name	GS	A	Mins.	Gls.	Y	R	A	Mins.	Gls.	Y	R	A	Mins.	Gls.	Y	R	A	Mins.	Gls.	Y	R	A	Mins.	Gls.	Y	R
	1	CM	Kafes	29	35		3	14		25		3	11		2			2		1					7			1
	2	RB	Edson Ratinho	33	38		1	7		28		1	4		2			1		2					6			2
	3	LB	Arruabarrena	25	25			6		16			3							1			1		8			2
	4	CB	Geraldo	31	34		1	11		26			8		1			1		2					5		1	2
	5	CB	Dellas	31	32		2	8	1	24		2	7	1	1					1					6			1
	7	SS	Pappas	3	13		2	2		8		1	2							1					4		1
	8	DM	Nsaliwa	25	32		2	8		22		1	6							2					8		1	2
	9	CF	Kapetanos	2	3		1			2					1		1
	10	AM	Rivaldo	41	43		15	3		35		12	3							2		1			6		2
	11	LW	Samouhos	24	32		25	30		22		25	30		1					2					7
	14	CB	Azcárate	2	2					1					1
	15	CB	Papastathopoulos	33	37		1	12		28		1	8		1			1		1			1		7			2
	16	DM	Zikos	24	24			9		20			6							2			2		2			1
	18	CF	Blanco	34	43		21	3		34		20	3		2										7		1
	19	LM	Lagos	12	17			2		15			2		1										1
	20	RW	Manú	8	20			5		13			3		2			2							5
	22	AM	Kone	5	20		2	4		13		1	4		1					1					5		1
	23	AM	Kallon	6	13		3	2		11		3	2												2
	25	DM	Pliatsikas	8	11			4		11			4
	27	RM	Bourbos	20	20			5		16			4		2					1			1		1
	31	RB	Georgeas	5	8			2		8			2
	32	GK	Moretto	23	25			1	1	16			1	1	2					2					5
	33	CF	Liberopoulos	35	39		13	5		30		13	2		1			1		2					6			2
	34	CM	Tachtsidis	1	2					1					1
	36	CF	Edinho	12	15		6	4		15		6	4
	50	GK	Macho	24	24			3	1	21			3	1											3
	56	CM	Hetemaj		1										1
	83	CF	Pavlis	1	8		1			7		1								1
	84	GK	Arabatzis	1	1					1
	88	DM	Tőzsér	16	24		1	4		14		1	3		2					2					6			1
	99	LW	Júlio César	14	28		4	2		19		3	2		2		1			2					5

Last updated: 2009-05-31
Source: Match reports in competitive matches, galanissportsdata.com
Ordered by start team, game starts and position on pitch (from back right to front left)
0 shown as blank
Country: when 2 flags, 1st flag = country that plays for internationally, 2nd flag = country of birth; N = number on jersey; P = Position; Name = Name on jersey (for more extended name, pause the mouse pointer on the name); GS = Game Started; A = Appearances.

Start formations

Qnt	Formation	Match(es)
29	4-4-2	3, 5-6, 8-9, 11-13, 15-19, 22-30, 33, 35, 38-42
6	4-4-1-1	1-2, 7, 10, 20, 31
4	4-2-3-1	14, 21, 32, 36
2	4-4-2 diamond or 4-1-2-1-2	4, 34
1	4-3-2-1 (the 'Christmas Tree' formation)	37

Source: Match reports in Competitive matches
Only competitive matches.

Overall

Games played	48
Games won	27
Games drawn	7
Games lost	14
Goals scored	86
Goals conceded	45
Goal difference	+41
Yellow cards	134
Red cards	3
Worst discipline	Traianos Dellas ( 1 x + 8 x )
Best result	5–0 vs Panionios
Worst result	0–4 vs Aris
Most appearances	Rivaldo (43) Ismael Blanco (43)
Top scorer	Ismael Blanco (21)
Points	88/144 (61.11%)

Last updated: 2008-05-15
Source: Competitive matches and Squad stats

Club

Management

Position	Staff
Manager	Nikos Kostenoglou
Assistant manager	Pep Alomar
First team coach	Antonis Kezos
Goalkeeping coach	Slobodan Suica
Youth Team coach	Georgos Vamvakas

Last updated: 26 Feb 2008
Source: aekfc.gr

Kit

Supplier: Puma
Sponsor(s): LG
Features: Chevrolet, Forthnet

Home

Away

Third

Source: sport24.gr

Other information

Chairman	Demis Nikolaidis
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	Athens Olympic Stadium (71,030 / 120x80 m)

Source: aekfc.gr

Manager stats

Name	Nat	From	To	Record							Honours
Name	Nat	From	To	P	W	D	L	F	A	%W	Honours
Lorenzo Serra Ferrer		15 August 2007	12 February 2008	30	17	2	11	51	26	56.66	–
Nikos Kostenoglou*		12 February 2008	14 May 2008	18	10	5	3	35	19	55.55	–
Totals	–	15 August 2007	14 May 2008	48	27	7	14	86	45	56.25	–

Key: * Served as Caretaker-manager.

Only competitive matches are counted. Wins, losses and draws are results at the final whistle; the results of penalty shootouts are not counted.

Competitions

Superleague Greece

Classification

This is the classification for the regular season:

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Olympiacos^[a] (C)	30	21	7	2	58	23	+35	70	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
2	AEK Athens	30	22	2	6	65	17	+48	68	Qualification for the Play-offs
3	Panathinaikos	30	20	6	4	44	18	+26	66
4	Aris	30	14	8	8	32	20	+12	50
5	Panionios	30	13	6	11	39	42	−3	45^[b]

Source: Super League Greece
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th decision match.
According to the official Super League playoff regulation, the position after the playoffs replaces the regular season position.
(C) Champions
Notes:

^ The match of Apollon Kalamarias against Olympiacos, originally ended 1–0 to the home side, but later was awarded to Olympiacos 0–3 by the Greek sports court giving Olympiacos the three points, on the basis that the home side fielded an ineligible player (Roman Wallner). Apollon were deducted by one point.
^ Head-to-head record: Panionios–AEL 3–1, AEL–Panionios 1–0.

Results summary


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
30	22	2	6	65	17	+48	68	11	2	2	38	9	+29	11	0	4	27	8	+19

Last updated: 6 April 2008.
Source: Super League Greece

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Ground	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H
Result	W	W	W	W	W	W	L	L	W	W	W	L	W	W	L	W	W	W	L	L	W	D	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	W
Position	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	3	1	1	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2

Source: aekfc.gr
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Playoffs table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
2	Panathinaikos	6	4	2	0	14	5	+9	21	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3	AEK Athens	6	2	2	2	10	11	−1	16	Qualification for the UEFA Cup second qualifying round
4	Aris^[a]	6	1	2	3	9	9	0	7	Qualification for the UEFA Cup second qualifying round
5	Panionios	6	1	2	3	7	15	−8	5	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup second round

Source: Super League Greece
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
Notes:

^ Aris is guaranteed at least to play in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round through their Greek Cup performance.

UEFA Cup

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	VIL	FIO	AEK	MLA	ELF
1	Villarreal	4	3	1	0	7	3	+4	10	Advance to knockout stage	—	1–1	—	—	2–0
2	Fiorentina	4	2	2	0	10	4	+6	8		—	—	—	2–1	6–1
3	AEK Athens	4	1	2	1	4	4	0	5		1–2	1–1	—	—	—
4	Mladá Boleslav	4	1	0	3	5	6	−1	3		1–2	—	0–1	—	—
5	Elfsborg	4	0	1	3	3	12	−9	1		—	—	1–1	1–3	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

UEFA rankings

UEFA team ranking

#	Previous	Team	Ranking
81	89	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	31.932
82	86	Austria Vienna	31.840
83	69	AEK Athens	31.525
84	77	Slavia Prague	31.496
85	79	RC Strasbourg	31.380

UEFA country ranking

#	Previous	League	Ranking
12	11	Ukrainian Premier League	30.100
13	12	Jupiler League	26.700
14	15	Superleague Greece	25.831
15	13	1. Gambrinus Liga	25.750
16	17	Axpo Super League	24.225

Correct as of 27 May 2008

Matches

Competitive

Game

Date

Tournament

Round

Ground

Opponent

Score¹

Report

1

2007-08-15

UEFA Champions League

Third qualifying round

A

Sevilla

0–2

Sevilla	AEK Athens
Report	Report link
Kick off	20:45 EET
Attendance	42,600
Referee	Ľuboš Micheľ
Maresca 42' Fabiano 48' Kanouté 68'	Arruabarrena 42' Zikos 90+1'

2

2007-09-03

UEFA Champions League

Third qualifying round

H

Sevilla

1–4

AEK Athens	Sevilla
Report	Report link
Kick off	20:45 EET
Attendance	37,777
Referee	Paul Allaerts
Zikos 19' Bourbos 43' Papastathopoulos 75' Rivaldo 82' (pen.)	Fabiano 32' (pen.) 45' Keita 40' Kerzhakov 53'

3

2007-09-20

UEFA Cup

First round

H

Red Bull Salzburg

3–0

AEK Athens	Red Bull Salzburg
Report	Report link
Kick off	18:45 CET
Attendance	25,523
Referee	Michael Leslie Dean
Geraldo 3' 40' Edson Ratinho 35' Rivaldo 58' Nsaliwa 76' Kone 82' Liberopoulos 88'	Carboni 38' Vargas 52' 71' Lokvenc 69' Zickler 72'

4

2007-09-23

Overview

Players

Squad information

Players out on loan

International players

Squad changes

Squad stats

Start formations

Overall

Club

Management

Kit

Other information

Manager stats

Competitions

Superleague Greece

Classification

Results summary

Results by round

Playoffs table

UEFA Cup

UEFA rankings

Matches

Competitive

References

See also