Totally 76 teams participated, 16 fromAlpha Ethniki, 20 fromBeta, and 40 fromGamma. It was held in 7 rounds, included final. An additional round was held between first and second, with 6 matches, in order that the teams would continue to be 32.
It was the first Greek Cup final since1980, where the two finalists were clubs not based onAttica,AEL andPAOK. The two teams had lost in the four previous Finals. PAOK had eliminated two fellow-citizens,Iraklis andAris, in the two first rounds, andcup holdersPanathinaikos in the semi-finals with an impressive second-leg 4–0 home victory(4–2 on aggregate). AEL had eliminated only one Alpha Ethniki team,Apollon Kalamarias, in the additional round. However, they had won with big scores their opponents from lowest divisions: Panegialios with 8–0, Neapoli Piraeus with 7–0, Korinthos with 6–1 and Levadiakos with 5–0.
From the interests of year were the qualification of Panathinaikos against Olympiacos, in the third round, with two wins in theOlympic Stadium, the common home of both teams. Also, the elimination ofAEK Athens for first time from a Gamma Ethniki team,Lamia, that afterwards was crushed, accepting in total 15 goals from PAOK in the third round. Also, in the first round,Olympiacos Volos eliminated Acharnaikos in penalty shootout 1–0, after a goaless draw, where after 9 penalties only was scored. OFI were eliminated in the first round by Odysseas Kordelio.
In the final, AEL gained their first title in their history, winning PAOK 4–1.[1][2] Simultaneously, they deprivedThe Double by PAOK, that wonthe championship of that year. It is remarkable that PAOK's coach,Austrian Walter Skotzik, was the coach of AEL inprevious season, when they lost in thefinal by Panathinaikos. An interesting story of the final was that PAOK's top goalscorer of that seasonChristos Dimopoulos didn't participate as he left the team at airport of Athens when they arrived from Thessaloniki for the game. Dimopoulos headed to the headquarters of Motor Oil (company of Panathinaikos‘ president Vardinogiannis) in order to seal his transfer to Panathinaikos as his 5-year contract with PAOK was expiring.
Each tie in theknockout phase, apart from the first two rounds and the final, was played overtwo 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, theaway 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, thenextra 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 apenalty shoot-out. In the first two rounds and 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:
There are no seedings, and teams from the same group can be drawn against each other.
