1955 – PANATHINAIKOS – PAOK 2-0

The first time the two clubs met in a final was in 1955, on June 12, in a match that took place at «Leoforos».

The Double-headed Eagle made their third attempt to claim the Greek Cup, after having traveled twice previously to Athens for the final, where they had met AEK (1939) and Olympiacos (1951) at the same venue. They had only managed to achieve the title of finalists in those two finals and so it proved again that afternoon.

The omens were not on PAOK’s side before the start of the match, since the team’s captain, Lampis Kouiroukidis was suspended, and although for AEK and Olympiacos, «Leoforos» was simply a well-known stadium, for Panathinaikos it was the club’s headquarters.

As well as all of these factors, strange weather phenomena added to the problems, since in the first 45 minutes there were strong winds which favored the shot from Kourtzidis who made it 1-0 in the 24th minute. This goal is mentioned both in the newspapers of the time and in the record books as the farthest that had been recorded until then at any Greek stadium.

PAOK tried to recover, but a few minutes later, Panakis but the ball in the back of Progiou’s net for the second time, and in the second half the wind stopped, as well as the score, which remained at 2-0.

To get to the final, PAOK had eliminated Elpida Drama 3-2 in extra-time. In the Quarter-finals, they prevailed 4-2 over Panionios, and in the semi-finals they defeated Doxa Drama 1-0.

June 12, 1955

«Panathinaikos» Stadium

Panathinaikos – PAOK 2-0

GOAL: 24 ‘Kourtzidis, 31’ Panakis

PANATHINAIKOS: Halaris, Angelopoulos, Kourtzidis, Kazakos, Linoxylakis, Nempidis, Asimakopoulos, Fotinos, Ziemis, Petropoulos, Panakis

PAOK: Progios, Kemanidis, Geroudis, Kalogiannis, Hasiotis, Doukakis, Tsintoglou, Karafoulidis, Gentzis, Papadakis, Kiourtzis.

REFEREE: Diamantopoulos

1972 PAOK – PANATHINAIKOS 2-1

It took many years for the two teams to meet again in the Greek Cup final, with the landscape having changed, since there was now a Panhellenic Championship from 1959-60 and the Greek Cup format was not done by regions with qualifiers. PAOK no longer had only two appearances in the final, but it was the club’s third consecutive participation in a final, with the previous two having been defeats by Aris at the Kaftanzogleio and by Olympiacos at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium.

For reasons of transparency, the draw for the referee of the match took place shortly before the start. There were three referees available and the draw gave Christos Michas the whistle.

The kick-off was 21:00 due to the heatwave in Athens at the time. PAOK took the lead in the third minute with a shot by Giorgos Koudas, and after a goal by Giannis Mantzourakis was canceled for an offensive foul in his attempt to make an inverted scissor-kick – without having an opponent close by – Koudas «locked up» the Greek Cup trophy in the 89th minute.

There were also two thousand Olympiacos fans at the stadium, who had received invitations and were there to create an atmosphere against Panathinaikos.

At the festivities in Thessaloniki, there was such enthusiasm for the trophy win that in combination with the high temperatures, people decided to jump into the sea for a swim. The next day, the team was welcomed at the airport with a procession of cars and motorcycles that bore PAOK badges, but also the team’s initials were painted on the fabrics of flags on the vehicles. The squad ended up back at the club’s offices in the city center, where the trophies were placed on the windowsill, outside the windows and the fans of the team below experienced some unique moments as witnesses of the first conquest of the Greek cup.

July 5, 1972

PAOK – PANATHINAIKOS 2-0

2 ‘, 89’ Koudas – 90 ‘Papadimitriou

PAOK (Les Shannon): Chatziioannou, Fountoukidis, Gounaris, Iosifidis, Papadopoulos, Apostolidis, Koudas, Bellis, Terzanidis, Aslanidis A (76 ‘Matzourakis), Sarafis (66’ Lazos).

PANATHINAIKOS (Ferenc Pouskas): Economopoulos, Dimitriou, Athanasopoulos, Gonios, Sourpis, Karamanlis (56 ‘Vlachos), Domazos, Eleftherakis, Papadimitriou, Grammos, Antoniadis, Vlachos.

ΔΙΑΙΤΗΤΗΣ: Μίχας

1977 PANATHINAIKOS – PAOK 2-1

PAOK, after closing a five-year period (1970-1974) with successive appearances in the Greek Cup final and two victories, the one against Panathinaikos in 1972 and one against Olympiakos in 1974, was again in the final in 1977.

Panathinaikos were the opponents again after the Double-headed Eagle eliminated AEK and Panathinaikos eliminated Olympiacos in the semi-finals.

Ten days before the Greek Cup final, PAOK had hosted Panathinaikos at the Toumba in the championship on Matchday 32, with the Double-headed Eagle looking for victory to overcome the Greens, who were at the top by a point with just two matches to go.

A goalless draw took PAOK up to third place, equal to Olympiacos with 50 points, a position in which they finished at the end of the season.

The final of the Greek Cup seemed like an opportunity for a response, but Panathinaikos «tamed a terrible and unlucky PAOK» as the headlines reported.

Panathinaikos completed the domestic double that season, with PAOK making a game of it right to the end, after Terzanidis (43′) had cancelled out Papadimitriou’s goal from the 29th minute.

Sarafis missed a good chance in the 55th minute to put PAOK in front, and from there on the game was interrupted by fouls and bad tempers, with Giannis Gounaris sent off after striking out at Alvarez. PAOK were left with ten players and Angelos Anastasiadis left his position in midfield to fill the gap created by the loss of Gounaris.

Panathinaikos, with Vakalis’ (83′) goal claimed the victory and the double.

June 22, 1977

PANATHINAIKOS – PAOK 2-1

GOAL: 29 ‘Papadimitriou, 83’ Vakalis – 43 ‘Terzanidis

PANATHINAIKOS (Kazimir Gorski): Konstantinou, Kapsis (46 ‘Eleftheriadis), Kizas, Dimitriou, Stefanakis, Domazos, Vakalis, Livathinos, Papadimitriou, Antoniadis (58’ Ganakoulas), Alvarez.

PAOK (Billy Bigham): Milinis, Pellios, Iosifidis, Gounaris, Damanakis, Anastasiadis, Apostolidis, Koudas, Terzanidis, Sarafis, Guerino (77 ‘Orfanos).

REFEREE: Platopoulos

2014 PANATHINAIKOS – PAOK 4-1

In 2014, the two teams met in a final after a «break» of 37 years. In fact, PAOK had not made a final for 11 years, since their previous appearance was in 2003, when they won the trophy at the Toumba with a 1-0 victory over Aris.

The match took place again in Athens, with PAOK on the receiving end of a heavy 4-1 defeat thanks to a big night from Marcus Berg, who scored a hat trick (15 ‘, 50′, 88’) and Kareli,s who was also on target in the 54th minute. For PAOK, Vukic had reduced the deficit at 3-1 in the 70th minute.

PAOK – PANATHINAIKOS 1-4
GOAL: Vukic (70 ‘(pen.) / Berg (15’, 50 ‘, 88′), Karelis (54’)

PAOK (Giorgos Georgiadis): Glykos, Skondras (77 ‘Koulouris), Vitor, Insauralde, Tzavellas, Lazar (56′ Vukic), Kitsiou, Kace, Loukas (56′ Lino), Stoch, Salpingidis

Panathinaikos (Yiannis Anastasiou): Kotsolis, Nano, Sildenfeld, Koutroubis, Triantaphyllopoulos, Mendes, Pranic, Zeka, Abed (75’ Lagos), Karelis, Berg
Referee: Tasos Kakos