2022–23 AEK Athens F.C. season

The 2022–23 season was the 99th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 62nd competitive season and eighth consecutive in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Super League and the Greek Cup. The season began on 20 August 2022 and finished on 24 May 2023.

Kits







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Overview
The end of the previous season found AEK at the worst point of their downward spiral in 5 years. The team had been far from winning a title and even failed to participate in any of the European competitions. In the midst of this heavy situation, the former international star, Matías Almeyda was hired as the new coach. "El Pelado", as was his nickname, had images of the top level as a footballer and successful spells in Argentina and Mexico as a coach. The Argentinean had great appetite for work and ambitions for conquering titles in his coaching debut in Europe. Having agreed since the end of the previous season, he had the comfort of time and the ability to plan his team from the beginning without distraction. The management, having learned from the previous season's mistakes, showed a different mentality to the staffing of the club, both at competitive and at administrative level. Almeyda was given full charge of the team, while his non-negotiable request to be supported by his entire personal staff had also been satisfied. In the summer transfer window, AEK moved dynamically and signed a series of international footballers, such as the Croatian defender Domagoj Vida, the Cameroonian defender Harold Moukoudi, the Danish midfielder Jens Jønsson, the Serbian midfielder Mijat Gaćinović, while the transfer of Steven Zuber became permanent. Other transfers that stood out as well, were those of the French former world champion, Djibril Sidibé, Niclas Eliasson, the last season's top scorer, Tom van Weert and most importantly, the loan of the Mexican international midfielder, Orbelín Pineda, a personal choice of the coach. At the same time, several players, with little to no contribution left the club with the exceptance of that of the vice-captain, André Simões who after 7 years of service returned to his homeland. Furthermore, despite the huge anticipation of the fans for the upcoming opening of the Agia Sophia Stadium, a new state-of-the-art stadium, the opening was pushed back so that some final work can be completed. This extension forced AEK to play their first two home games at Georgios Kamaras Stadium since the management decided to leave the Olympic Stadium.

From early in the season AEK began to show signs of the team that Almeyda was preparing. Game by game, the team presented on the pitch more and more of the game the Argentenian coach was asking for. A game of dominance on the pitch, with suffocating pressure on the opposition all over the pitch and immediate possession recoveries whenever the ball was lost, with the team imposing theimselves at every opponent regardless of their capacity and capabilities. An style that seemed foreign in Greek football which caught their opponents by surprise, forcing them to adjust tactics and play in order to cope with the pressure of AEK.

On 30 September, in an emotionally charged opening ceremony, Agia Sophia Stadium opened its gates for the first time. At last AEK Athens found their home after 19 years, after the demolition of Nikos Goumas Stadium. Three days later, in the historic first match against Ionikos, AEK achieved an imposing 4–1 amist cheers and celebrations by both crowd and club. Gacinovic opened the score for the first time in the new stadium in only 6 minutes in the game.

The performance of AEK went up as the season progressed, but were permanently in second place in the standings, behind Panathinaikos, who enjoyed an extensive favor of both luck and the referees. The image of the two teams gave impression that the point difference was both fictitious and reversible. The difference peaked at 8 points, when the interruption in all top-tier championships took place, due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

With the resumption of league, AEK went until the end of the regular season achieving only victories with the exeption of 3 defeats. On 5 February, AEK became unwittingly involved in case that defamed Greek football. At Peristeri Stadium, just before the match against Atromitos, the players of AEK noticed a noticeable height difference in the horizontal beams of the two goals and infromed the referee who confirmed the violation and as the rule dictated gave time to the home team to fix the problem. The tries by the officials of Atromitos to dig the goal line to restore the height were of no success The inability to resolve the problem leads to the departure of the referee and teams. The case naturally went to courts, the disciplinary body of the Super League despite the rule, set a replay of the match, absolving the host Atromitos of any responsibility. Despite all that, AEK won the match and in the end went in the play-off round having reduced the point distance from Panathinaikos in just 2 points.

In the play-offs, the yellow-blacks continued their imposing performance against their opponents. With a summary of 7 wins, 3 goaless draws and the goal difference at 18–3, testified to their absolute dominance. Those performances included the 0–1 and 1–3 victories away from home against PAOK and Olympiacos respectively and an imposing 4–0 home win against the former. The title was eventually judged in the penultimate matchday, where AEK defeated Aris at Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, while at the same time Panathnaikos were defeated by Olympiacos at Karaiskakis Stadium. Thus, on final fixture, AEK, with a procedural 4–0 victory against Volos were crowned champions, with the awarding ceremony taking place inside their new stadium, and celebrations taking place throughout Nea Filadelfeia.

AEK began their obligations in the cup in its single-leg fifth round, where they easly overcame the obstacle of PAS Giannina with a 2–0 home win. AEK showed depth in their roster and Almeyda's philosophy of having a "cup squad" that mainly consisted of substitutes. As in the previous season, in the round of 16 faced A.E. Kifisia. With 2 easy wins at both legs the yellow-blacks were qualified in the quarter finals. There they faced Panserraikos, where again with easy wins at both legs AEK were qualified to the next round. The draw for the semi-finals brought AEK their first derby in the institution facing Olympiacos. In the first match at Nea Filadelfeia, Almeyda faithful to his tactics, used the "cup squad", despite the theoretical difficulty of the match, causing the concerns of the crowd. Nevertheless, AEK stormed into the match and "suffocated" Olympiacos competitively, winning them by the imposing 3–0. In the replay match at Faliro, the red and whites, despite their greatest efforts, the best they could do was a honorary 2–1 win, which gave the qualification to the yellow-blacks. AEK were in the final of the Greek Cup for the 6th time in the last 8 years with PAOK being their opponent. The administration of the HFF, seemed unable to find a venue to host the final with many stadiums from not only from Greece, but the rest of the world as possible candidates and everything seemed to be leading to a dead end. Eventually a solution was found and the final was set on 24 May at Panthessaliko Stadium. AEK once again came in imposing their game to the club of Thessaloniki. However, at the 6th minute the game changed as Lazaros Rota was sent-off, leaving AEK with 10 players for almost the entire duration of the match. The numerical disantantage made the yellow-blacks defend for the rest of the game, while PAOK took the initiantive. The defence of AEK was effective against their opponent and in the middle of the first half the yellow-blacks took the lead with a header of Moukoudi. In the rest of the match the image remained the same, but in the final minutes, AEK scored another goal with a magic energy of Paolo Fernandes and finished the match. With the conquest of the cup, AEK achieved their third domestic double in their history, starting a new barrage of celebrations from the fans at Nea Filadelfeia.

Management team

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Squad information
''NOTE: The players are the ones that have been announced by the AEK Athens' press release. No edits should be made unless a player's arrival or exit is announced. Updated 24 May 2023, 23:00 UTC+3.''

Summer
Notes


 * a. Saint-Étienne keeps the 30% of the player's rights.


 * b. Hoffenheim keeps 30% of the player's rights.


 * c. His loan was terminated in order for him to be transferred on a permanent deal.


 * d. AEK keeps the 50% of the player's rights.


 * e. AEK keeps the 40% of the player's rights.

Expenditure
Summer: €5,800,000

Winter: €0

Total: €5,800,000

Income
Summer: €3,200,000

Winter: €0

Total: €3,200,000

Net Totals
Summer: €2,600,000

Winter: €0

Total: €2,600,000

Greek Cup
AEK entered the Greek Cup at the fifth round.

Squad statistics
! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers

! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders

! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders

! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards

! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Left during Summer Transfer Window

! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Left during Summer Winter Window

! colspan="11" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| From AEK Athens B


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Clean sheets
''The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal, then by shirt number 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.''

Disciplinary record
! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers

! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Defenders

! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Midfielders

! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Forwards

! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Left during Summer Transfer Window

! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| Left during Winter Transfer Window

! colspan="17" style="background:#FFDE00; color:black; text-align:center;"| From AEK Athens B


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