The 1987–88 season was the 64th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 29th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki and the Greek Cup. The season began on 6 September 1987 and finished on 15 May 1988.
The final year of the presidency of Andreas Zafiropoulos, finally found AEK Athens at the second place of the league, behind AEL. The season was overshadowed by various non-competitive cases, the "Tsingov case", the "Ballis-Papadopoulos case" and the "Vosdos case". In the summer of 1987, AEK returned to the Nea Filadelfeia Stadium and was called to carry on without the club's legend, Thomas Mavros and as well as Håkan Sandberg. On the other hand, some useful players were acquired such as Savvidis, Nielsen and Vasilakos. Led by Todor Veselinović and with Panathinaikos and Olympiacos out of the title race early on, the team had a good presence and were in the claiming of the championship, but eventually lost it to the strong at that time AEL. The best players of the season for AEK were Manolas, Nielsen, Savvidis, Vasilakos, Janjanin and Patikas. Henrik Nielsen with 21 goals finished the season as the league's top scorer. The greatest victory of the season was the 7–1 at home against Veria.[1]
However, the "Tsingov case" played crucial role in the outcome of the championship. The Bulgarian footballer, Georgi Tsingov of AEL was tested positive in a dropping test after the match against Panathinaikos. The court's decision was as the regulation predicted and punished AEL by zeroing them for that match, 2 points deduction and punishment of the player which brought AEK to the first place of the table. AEL appealed and their fans were revolted by blocking the highway, closing railway lines among other things. Before the appeal was heard the then Minister of Sports, Sifis Valyrakis changed the regulation "overnight", which predicted in cases of doping a footballer, only the footballer would be punished and not the club. So the points were returned back to AEL and finally won the championship. Essentially, AEK was entitled to win the championship on "papers", but AEL was a worthy champion, inside the football pitch and the club's mentality and principles are such that did not allow them to proceed in such actions.[2]
Another scandal of the season was the "Vosdos case". The president of Panachaiki, Aris Loukopoulos, denounced AEK for an attempt to bribe the defender of the team, Leonidas Vosdos, before the match between the two teams at Patras. The footballer himself stated that no one approached him, the judges concluded that the story was an "invention" of Loukopoulos to create a climate of tension in view of the match and the president of Panachaiki was punished.[3]
Noteworthy were also the incidents in the last match of the season at Nea Filadelfeia against Iraklis. The ultras stand had enough with Zafiropoulos, who was considered unable to lift the "weight" of handling the club, but the tension that existed did not justify the following events. Riot police, in an incomprehensible decision, entered the ultras stand and beat whoever stood in front of them which resulted in very heated encounters with the ultras. There were many who believe that Zafiropoulos influenced the police officers to act in this way.[4]
In the cup, AEK after elinating Iraklis in the first round and Kallithea in the round of 32, were drawn against Olympiacos at the round of 16. In the first match at Karaiskakis Stadium, AEK got a significant result with 1–1. On the eve of the rematch, a big scandal broke out as the former AEK footballer, Dinos Ballis visited at the hotel where the team were located with a bouquet for the goalkeeper, Theologis Papadopoulos and created strong suspicions that he was trying to bribe him. The match took place, with Olympiacos winning 1–3 and the story continued in the courts. The Koskotas brothers were accused of trying to bribe Papadopoulos and Vasilakos through Ballis, while many AEK fans believe that AEK was involved in the whole case. Eventually, in a very strange court decision, the only one who was punished for the whole case was Ballis for attempted bribery.[5]
NOTE: The players are the ones that have been announced by the AEK Athens' press release. No edits should be made unless a player arrival or exit is announced. Updated 15 May 1988, 23:59 UTC+3.
Note: At halftime, a strange incident occurred when people began to set up cameras and crews, attendees and footballers with yellow and blue and white shirts entered the pitch. AEK Stadium was chosen for the shooting of the movie "The Striker with Number 9" by Pantelis Voulgaris, with the crowd having no idea of what was happening. However, despite the difficulties of the shooting, Stratos Tzortzoglou stated the experience was shocking and magical having 30,000 people chanting and booing on set.[39]
Note: At the 30th minute, AEK won an indirect foul from quite a long distance and Pittas had not seen the gesture of the referee Koukoulakis for an indirect foul, which he executed directly with the ball hitting the goalkeeper's hand and ending up in the net. If the goalkeeper had let the ball go straight to the net, the goal would not count. PAOK objected to the replay of the match but, this objection fell on deaf ears.[40]
Note: The match was followed by allegations of bribe and various machinations at AEK's expense, with former Olympiacos footballer, Gounaris and former AEK footballer, Ballis involved as intermediaries. Although nothing was proven, Ballis was punished for active bribery. Neither the receivers of the bribe, nor the one who orchestreatd the whole scheme were ever made public.[5]
The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal and then alphabetically by surname. Clean sheets in games where both goalkeepers participated are awarded to the goalkeeper who started the game. Goalkeepers with no appearances are not included.
