The 2002–03 Greek Football Cup was the 61st edition of the Greek Football Cup. That season's edition was entitled "Vodafone Greek Cup" for sponsorship reasons.
Tournament details
The two finalists were the arch-rivals, PAOK and Aris, meeting up again in a Cup final after 33 years. PAOK had to overcome some big obstacles to reach the final. They qualified against OFI[1][2] on away goals rule and eliminated league champions Olympiacos[3][4][5] with two wins in the quarter-finals and Cup holders AEK Athens[6][7][8] with 2–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
On the contrary, Aris had an easier path on their route to the final. They eliminated PAS Giannina with two wins, Ethnikos Asteras[9][10] with 3–2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals and qualified against Egaleo[11][12][13] on away goals rule in the semi-finals.
The final was held at Toumba Stadium, on 17 May 2003. PAOK defeated Aris by 1–0[14][15][16] with a goal scored by Georgiadis who made an impressive individual effort, dribbling past a defender with his right foot, faking a shot with his left (outsmarting another defender and the goalkeeper in the process) and finishing with a swift side-foot kick (using his left again) that launched the ball up and into the back of the net. The assist was provided by Markos. Aris had a great chance to equalize late at the game, but the ball hit the post on Morris' effort.
During the postgame press conference, Aris manager Giorgos Foiros made a complaint that the final should have been a two-legged tie because PAOK had the advantage of playing on home ground. Kaftanzoglio Stadium, a neutral ground and Thessaloniki 's largest stadium was under renovation for the 2004 Summer Olympic games. The Hellenic Football Federation's regulation for that season's Cup stated that if the final was to be held at Thessaloniki (that would be the case if at least one of the two finalists was a Thessaloniki 's team), it would be hosted at the second largest stadium of the city which was Toumba. About a week before the game, Aris demanded[17] from the federation either the final to be played at Kalamaria Stadium or Makedonikos Stadium, both neutral grounds (with much smaller capacity though) or to be held a draw between Toumba Stadium and Aris Stadium, but both requests were denied[18] due to the tournament's regulation.
PAOK manager Angelos Anastasiadis became the first in club's history to win the Cup both as a player, in 1974 and manager.
Calendar
Round
Date(s)
Fixtures
Clubs
New entries
First Round
8–12, 14, 16–18, 21, 28 August & 4, 11, 12, 25 September 2002
52
52 → 26
52
Second Round
6, 7, 14, 21, 23, 30 October & 2, 6, 13 November 2002
20
26 → 16
none
Round of 16
4, 11, 18, 19 December 2002 & 8, 15, 22, 23, 29 January 2003
16
16 → 8
none
Quarter-finals
5, 19, 26 February & 5, 12, 19 March 2003
8
8 → 4
none
Semi-finals
9, 23 April & 7 May 2003
4
4 → 2
none
Final
17 May 2003
1
2 → 1
none
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:
For the 1st Round draw, the 1st Division teams and the top 10 teams of the 2nd Division are seeded, the remaining teams are unseeded.
From the 2nd Round draw onwards, there are no seedings.
Patrick Ogunsoto
Panagiotis Ziakas
Alessandro Soares
Emanuele Morini
Ermin Šiljak
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Ioannis Okkas
Njogu Demba-Nyrén
