2002–03 Alpha Ethniki

The 2002–03 Alpha Ethniki was the 67th season of the highest football league of Greece. The season began on 24 August 2002 and ended on 25 May 2003. Olympiacos won their seventh consecutive and 32nd Greek title. Olympiacos and Panathinaikos finished the League with the same points total but Olympiacos were crowned champions due to more favourable results between the two teams. It was a very dramatic end to the season, with the decisive game between the two clubs taking place in the penulitmate round. The season was interrupted by strike action after television broadcaster Alpha Digital collapsed in September 2002, following which the players didn't play for a month.[1]

Alpha Ethniki
Season2002–03
ChampionsOlympiacos
32nd Greek title
RelegatedPanachaiki
PAS Giannina
Champions LeagueOlympiacos
Panathinaikos
AEK Athens
UEFA CupPAOK
Panionios
Aris
Matches played240
Goals scored617 (2.57 per match)
Top goalscorerNikos Liberopoulos (16)

Teams

Stadia and personnel
Location of teams in 2002–03 Alpha Ethniki
Team Manager1 Location Stadium Capacity
AEK Athens Dušan Bajević Athens Nikos Goumas Stadium 27,729
Akratitos Dumitru Dumitriu Athens Yiannis Pathiakakis Stadium 4,944
Aris Giorgos Foiros Thessaloniki Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium 23,220
Egaleo Georgios Chatzaras Athens Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium 8,217
Ionikos Jacek Gmoch Piraeus Neapoli Stadium 4,999
Iraklis Eugène Gerards Thessaloniki Makedonikos Stadium 8,100
Kallithea Babis Tennes Kallithea Grigoris Lambrakis Stadium 4,250
OFI Zdeněk Ščasný Heraklion Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium 9,000
Olympiacos Oleh Protasov Piraeus Georgios Kamaras Stadium 14,856
Panachaiki Dimitrios Genas Patras Kostas Davourlis Stadium 11,321
Panathinaikos Sergio Markarián Athens Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium 16,620
Panionios Jozef Bubenko Nea Smyrni Nea Smyrni Stadium 11,756
PAOK Angelos Anastasiadis Thessaloniki Toumba Stadium 28,803
PAS Giannina Nikos Anastopoulos Ioannina Zosimades Stadium 7,652
Proodeftiki Soulis Papadopoulos Piraeus Nikaia Municipal Stadium 5,000
Skoda Xanthi Nikos Karageorgiou Xanthi Xanthi Ground 9,500
  • 1 On final match day of the season, played on 25 May 2003.

League standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Olympiacos (C) 30 21 7 2 75 21 +54 70[lower-alpha 1] Qualification for Champions League group stage
2 Panathinaikos 30 22 4 4 50 19 +31 70[lower-alpha 1]
3 AEK Athens 30 21 5 4 74 29 +45 68 Qualification for Champions League third qualifying round
4 PAOK 30 16 5 9 59 38 +21 53[lower-alpha 2] Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
5 Panionios 30 15 8 7 35 25 +10 53[lower-alpha 2]
6 Aris 30 15 6 9 37 34 +3 51
7 Iraklis 30 15 4 11 44 37 +7 49
8 OFI 30 12 8 10 39 34 +5 44
9 Skoda Xanthi 30 8 11 11 31 33 −2 35
10 Egaleo 30 7 10 13 28 44 −16 31 Qualification for Intertoto Cup third round
11 Proodeftiki 30 7 9 14 25 38 −13 30
12 Akratitos 30 7 5 18 33 62 −29 26[lower-alpha 3] Qualification for Intertoto Cup second round
13 Kallithea 30 6 8 16 29 46 −17 26[lower-alpha 3]
14 Ionikos (O) 30 5 9 16 22 42 −20 24 Qualification for relegation play-off
15 Panachaiki (R) 30 1 6 23 11 71 −60 9 Relegation to Beta Ethniki
16 PAS Giannina[lower-alpha 4] (R) 30 6 7 17 25 44 −19 −65
Source: Galanis Sports Data
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th decision match.
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated.
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head record: Panathinaikos–Olympiacos 3–2, Olympiacos–Panathinaikos 3–0.
  2. Head-to-head record: Panionios–PAOK 2–0, PAOK–Panionios 3–0.
  3. Head-to-head record: Kallithea–Akratitos 0–2, Akratitos–Kallithea 3–3.
  4. PAS Giannina were deducted 3 points per match for having debts of €900,000 to former players.

Results
Home \ Away AEK AKR ARI EGA ION IRT KLT OFI OLY PCK PAT PIO PAOK PAS PRO XAN
AEK Athens 6–2 4–0 3–2 3–0 6–1 1–0 3–1 1–1 6–0 1–0 4–2 3–4 3–1 4–1 3–2
Akratitos 3–2 0–2 0–1 1–0 0–2 3–3 1–1 2–5 3–0 1–3 0–3 1–3 3–0 2–1 0–1
Aris 1–1 4–1 2–1 2–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–1 1–3 1–0 2–0 2–0 2–1 1–1
Egaleo 1–1 3–1 3–0 0–0 0–2 0–0 0–4 0–2 4–0 0–0 0–0 2–3 2–1 1–0 0–0
Ionikos 0–3 1–1 0–1 0–0 2–4 1–1 1–1 0–2 3–0 0–1 1–2 4–0 2–0 0–1 0–0
Iraklis 0–2 1–0 4–0 2–1 3–2 2–1 3–0 2–2 1–1 0–3 3–1 1–1 3–0 1–0 2–0
Kallithea 1–3 0–2 0–2 2–1 0–1 1–0 2–0 1–4 3–1 1–3 1–1 1–2 2–2 1–1 0–1
OFI 1–0 2–0 1–2 2–2 2–1 3–1 2–1 0–1 3–0 0–2 1–1 2–3 1–0 2–0 2–0
Olympiacos 1–2 4–0 1–0 4–0 6–0 2–1 1–0 1–0 7–0 3–0 3–0 4–3 2–1 0–0 1–1
Panachaiki 0–2 2–0 0–1 0–2 0–0 0–2 1–2 0–2 1–4 0–3 0–2 2–2 0–2 1–1 0–2
Panathinaikos 2–1 3–1 3–2 3–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 5–1 3–2 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 1–0
Panionios 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 2–0 3–1 2–0 0–0 0–0 2–0 0–0 2–0 2–0 2–0 0–3
PAOK 0–1 1–1 2–0 4–0 3–0 0–1 2–3 2–0 1–1 4–0 4–1 3–0 1–0 4–1 1–0
PAS Giannina 0–2 1–0 0–1 1–1 2–3 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–3 3–0 0–0 1–2 3–2 2–1 1–1
Proodeftiki 1–1 5–1 3–1 1–1 0–0 1–0 1–1 0–0 1–3 1–0 0–2 0–1 0–3 1–0 1–1
Skoda Xanthi 0–1 1–2 0–2 5–0 0–0 1–0 3–0 1–4 1–5 1–1 0–0 0–1 1–1 3–3 1–0
Source: finalscore.gr
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/Relegation Play-Off
Ionikos2 – 1Apollon Kalamarias
Rodrigues  47'  78' Hartwig  77'

Top goalscorers

Source: Galanis Sports Data

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Nikos Liberopoulos Panathinaikos 16
2 Stelios Giannakopoulos Olympiacos 15
3 Georgios Georgiadis PAOK 14
Predrag Đorđević Olympiacos
5 Njogu Demba-Nyrén Aris 12
Vassilis Lakis AEK Athens
Demis Nikolaidis AEK Athens
8 Ioannis Okkas PAOK 11
Vassilis Tsartas AEK Athens
10 Alexandre Soares OFI 10
Dimitris Nalitzis AEK Athens
Giovanni Olympiacos
Lampros Choutos Olympiacos

References
  1. "Greek football at the crossroads". UEFA. 7 February 2003. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
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