The 2001 Greek Cup final was the 57th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 12 May 2001 at Nikos Goumas Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and PAOK.[1] It was Olympiacos' twenty-ninth Greek Cup final in their 76 years of existence and PAOK's fifteenth Greek Cup final in their 75-year history. A draw was preceded on 19 April[2] to determine in which stadium/city the final would be hosted: Nikos Goumas Stadium in Athens or Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki. Several days before the game, Olympiacos president Sokratis Kokkalis made a memorable statement using a Greek expression that Olympiacos would lose the upcoming final only if "the devil broke his leg", meaning that it was almost impossible for his team to lose. However, PAOK won the match by 4–2[3][4] with an impressive performance and earned the trophy 27 years after their last success, in the same stadium against the same opponent. During the awarding ceremony, former goalkeeper and member of the coaching staff of PAOK, Mladen Furtula whispered to Kokkalis that the devil indeed broke his leg that day and the latter responded with a laugh. The manager of PAOK, Dušan Bajević became the first in history to win the trophy with three different clubs, as he had previously won it in 1996 with AEK Athens and in 1999 with Olympiacos.
Venue
This was the eighth Greek Cup final held at Nikos Goumas Stadium, after the 1962, 1967, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1981 and 1982 finals.
Nikos Goumas Stadium was built in 1930 and it has been renovated twice, in 1979 and 1998. The stadium is used as a venue for AEK Athens and was used for Greece in various occasions. Its current capacity is 28,729.[5]
Background
Olympiacos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty seven times, winning twenty of them. The last time that had played in a final was in 1999, where they had won Panathinaikos by 2–0.
PAOK had reached the Greek Cup final fourteen times, winning two of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 1974 (4–3 on penalties, which came after a 2–2 draw at the end of the extra time against Olympiacos). The last time that had played in a final was in 1992, where they had lost to Olympiacos by 3–1 on aggregate (1–1 at Toumba Stadium and 2–0 at Karaiskakis Stadium).
The two teams had met each other in a Cup final six times in the 1951, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1981 and 1992 finals.[6]
