2002–03 Greek Football Cup

The 2002–03 Greek Football Cup was the 61st edition of the Greek Football Cup. That season's edition was entitled "Vodafone Greek Cup" for sponsorship reasons.

Tournament details
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 on away goals rule and eliminated league champions Olympiacos   with two wins in the quarter-finals and Cup holders AEK Athens   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 with 3–2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals and qualified against Egaleo   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  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 from the federation either the final to be played at Kalamaria Stadium or Makedonikos Stadium, both neutral grounds (with much smaller capacity though) or to be held a draw between Toumba Stadium and Aris Stadium, but both requests were denied 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.

Knockout phase
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.

First round
The draw took place on 11 July 2002.

Summary

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Matches
Kallithea won 6–0 on aggregate

OFI won 4–0 on aggregate

Panionios won 3–1 on aggregate

Ethnikos Asteras won 2–1 on aggregate

Agios Dimitrios won 3–2 on aggregate

PAS Giannina won 3–1 on aggregate

Egaleo won 6–4 on aggregate

Olympiakos Volos won on penalties

Skoda Xanthi won 4–0 on aggregate

Ergotelis won 6–2 on aggregate

Panachaiki won 7–2 on aggregate

Akratitos won 8–0 on aggregate

Iraklis won 4–2 on aggregate

Paniliakos won 7–0 on aggregate

Panathinaikos won 5–0 on aggregate

Apollon Kalamarias won 5–4 on aggregate

Chalkidona won 6–1 on aggregate

Patraikos won 3–2 on aggregate

PAOK won 1–0 on aggregate

Kalamata won 2–1 on aggregate

AEK Athens won 2–0 on aggregate.

Aris won 6–0 on aggregate

Kerkyra won 1–0 on aggregate

Olympiacos won 4–1 on aggregate

Apollon Athens won 3–0 on aggregate

Ionikos won 4–0 on aggregate

Second round
The draw took place on 27 September 2002.

Summary

 * colspan="2" rowspan="6" N/A


 * }

Matches
Panionios won 2–1 on aggregate.

AEK Athens won 6–1 on aggregate.

PAOK won 2–0 on aggregate.

Panathinaikos won 1–0 on aggregate.

Akratitos won 3–1 on aggregate.

Egaleo won 4–2 on aggregate.

Olympiacos won 4–2 on aggregate.

Aris won 4–1 on aggregate.

OFI won 4–0 on aggregate.

Ethnikos Asteras won 3–2 on aggregate.

Round of 16
The draw took place on 28 November 2002.

Summary

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Matches
AEK Athens won 5–0 on aggregate.

PAOK won on away goals.

Aris won 4–0 on aggregate.

Panionios won 2–1 on aggregate.

Olympiacos won 2–0 on aggregate.

Egaleo won 6–1 on aggregate.

Ethnikos Asteras won 4–1 on aggregate.

Panathinaikos won 4–0 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals
The draw took place on 30 January 2003.

Summary

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Matches
Egaleo won 2–1 on aggregate.

AEK Athens won 5–3 on aggregate.

Aris won 3–2 on aggregate.

PAOK won 5–2 on aggregate.

Semi-finals
The draw took place on 20 March 2003.

Summary

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Matches
Aris won on away goals.

PAOK won 2–1 on aggregate.