2002–03 Greek Football Cup

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] with two wins in the quarter-finals and Cup holders AEK Athens[5][6][7] 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[8][9] with 3–2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals and qualified against Egaleo[10][11] 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[12][13][14] 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[15] from the federation either the final to be played at Kalamaria or Makedonikos stadiums, both neutral grounds (with much smaller capacity though) or to be held a draw between Toumba Stadium and Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium (Aris home ground), but both requests were denied[16] 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.

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.

The draw took place on 11 July 2002.[17]

The draw took place on 27 September 2002.[18]

The draw took place on 28 November 2002.

The draw took place on 30 January 2003.[19]

Matches

5 February 2003

19:00 EET

Panathinaikos	0–1	Egaleo
	Report (page 21)	Chloros 84'

Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, Ampelokipoi

Attendance: 1,663

Referee: Ioannis Spyropoulos (Phthiotis)

5 March 2003

17:00 EET

Egaleo	1–1	Panathinaikos
Agritis 43'	Report (page 22)	Sapanis 5'

Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium, Aigaleo

Attendance: 1,295

Referee: Vasilis Terovitsas (Aetoloacarnania)

Egaleo won 2–1 on aggregate.

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5 February 2003

17:00 EET

Panionios	1–1	AEK Athens
Mantzios 88'	Report (page 21)	Maladenis 40'

Nea Smyrni Stadium, Nea Smyrni

Attendance: 1,506

Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Thessaloniki)

5 March 2003

19:30 EET

AEK Athens	4–2	Panionios
Katsouranis 26' Nalitzis 37', 75' Konstantinidis 43'	Report (page 22)	Šiljak 3' Bulut 8'

Nikos Goumas Stadium, Nea Filadelfeia

Attendance: 2,473

Referee: Nikos Aggelakis (Thessaloniki)

AEK Athens won 5–3 on aggregate.

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19 February 2003

19:00 EET

Aris	3–1	Ethnikos Asteras
Demba-Nyrén 21' Papadopoulos 44' (pen.) Källander 71'	Report (page 21)	Giannakidis 62'

Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, Thessaloniki

Referee: Dimitris Takidis (Kilkis)

19 March 2003

19:00 EET

Ethnikos Asteras	1–0	Aris
Louka 54'	Report (page 22)

Michalis Kritikopoulos Stadium, Kaisariani

Referee: Manolis Tapatzas (Thrace)

Aris won 3–2 on aggregate.

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26 February 2003

19:00 EET

PAOK	3–1	Olympiacos
Georgiadis 10' Markos 31' Okkas 86'	Report (page 21)	Giannakopoulos 44' (pen.)

Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki

Attendance: 17,647

Referee: Giorgos Tsaggarakis (Chania)

12 March 2003

19:00 EET

Olympiacos	1–2	PAOK
Choutos 76'	Report (page 22)	Georgiadis 30' Okkas 32'

Rizoupoli Stadium, Rizoupoli

Attendance: 11,466

Referee: Giorgos Douros (Corinthia)

PAOK won 5–2 on aggregate.

The draw took place on 20 March 2003.[20]

• Greek Cup 2002-2003 at RSSSF
• Greek Cup 2002-2003 at Hellenic Football Federation's official site