The 1962 Greek Cup final was the 20th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 27 June 1962 at AEK Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. It was Olympiacos' twelfth Greek Cup final and seventh consecutive in their 37 years of existence and Panathinaikos' sixth Greek Cup final in their 54-year history.[1][2][3] It was an eventful and a harsh match that was marked by three red cards in a first half, which in fact lasted 66 minutes, due to the continuous interruptions. The intermission lasted 30 minutes and spectators became suspicious that both teams had arranged for a draw in order to make more money from the replay match that would occur according to the regulation at the time. Thus the hurled objects on to the pitch. The second half went smoothly with the spectators persisting in booing the footballers of both teams. The score remained at 0–0 and the match went to extra time. However, with the 21 minutes of delays at the beginning of the match and since there were no floodlights in the stadium, darkness set in. As a result, the referee interrupted the match at the 97th minute.[4] The HFF, fearful of reactions of the crowd, declined to arrange a replay match, so while there was a Cup final, there was no Cup winner and conclusively there was no runner-up. Nevertheless, Olympiacos qualified for the next season's European Cup Winners' Cup, since Panathinaikos emerged as the champions of that year.[5]
Venue
This was the first Greek Cup final held at AEK Stadium.
AEK Stadium was built in 1930. The stadium is used as a venue for AEK Athens and was used for Greece in various occasions. Its current capacity is 32,000.[6]
Background
Olympiacos had reached the Greek Cup final eleven times, winning ten of them. The last time that they had played in a final was in 1961, where they won Panionios by 3–0.
Panathinaikos had reached the Greek Cup final five times, winning three of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 1955 (1–0 against PAOK). The last time that had played in a final was in 1960, where they had lost to Olympiacos by 3–0 in a replay match, after the 1–1 of the initial match.[7]
