| Event | 1996–97 Greek Football Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Afterextra time AEK Athens won 5–3 onpenalties | |||||||
| Date | 16 April 1997 | ||||||
| Venue | Karaiskakis Stadium,Piraeus | ||||||
| Referee | Giorgos Psychomanis (Athens) | ||||||
| Attendance | 21,926 | ||||||
←1996 1998 → | |||||||
The1997 Greek Cup final was the 53rd final of theGreek Cup. The match took place on 16 April 1997 atKaraiskakis Stadium. The contesting teams wereAEK Athens andPanathinaikos. It was AEK Athens' fifteenth Greek Cup final and fourth consecutive in their 73 years of existence and Panathinaikos' twenty third Greek Cup final in their 89-year history.[1] For third time in the 4 last years AEK Athens and Panathinaikos were pondered over in the final.[2] The loss of the Cup for Panathinaikos, combined with their 5-place finish in the championship, resulted in club not qualifying in any European competition for the first time in the last 25 years.

This was the twelfth Greek Cup final held atKaraiskakis Stadium, after the 1957, 1958, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1979 finals (Karaiskakis also hosted the replay match of the 1960 final betweenPanathinaikos andOlympiacos and the second leg of the 1992 two-legged final betweenPAOK andOlympiacos).
Karaiskakis Stadium was built in 1895 and renovated once in 1964. The stadium is used as a venue forEthnikos Piraeus and was used forOlympiacos andGreece on various occasions. Its current capacity is 42,000 and hosted aUEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in1971 and the first leg of theIntercontinental Cup final in1971.[3]
AEK Athens had reached the Greek Cup final fourteen times, winning nine of them. The last time that played in a final was in1996, where they had won againstApollon Athens by 7–1.
Panathinaikos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty two times, winning fifteen of them. The last time that they had played the Cup was in1995, where they had won against AEK Athens by 1–0 after extra time.
The two teams had met each other in a Cup final four times in the 1948, 1949, 1994 and 1995 finals.[4]
| AEK Athens | Round | Panathinaikos | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | |
| Skoda Xanthi | 8–3 | 5–0 (H) | 3–3 (A) | Round of 32 | Athinaikos | 6–0 | 3–0 (H) | 3–0 (A) |
| ILTEX Lykoi | 6–1 | 3–1 (H) | 3–0 (A) | Round of 16 | Iraklis | 4–0 | 1–0 (A) | 3–0 (H) |
| Paniliakos | 5–1 | 3–1 (H) | 2–0 (A) | Quarter-finals | Ialysos | 3–1 | 2–0 (H) | 1–1 (A) |
| Olympiacos | 3–1 | 2–1 (H) | 1–0 (A) | Semi-finals | Panachaiki | 7–0 | 3–0 (H) | 4–0 (A) |
![]() AEK Athens | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Panathinaikos |
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Assistant referees: | Match rules
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