Panthinaikos 2003/04: The Toppling of Olympiakos’s Empire

Empires have been a constant in history. None more so than the Greek Empire but eventually a time comes when the empire will fall. It just so happens that Greece’s footballing empire has fallen twice at the same hands of bitter rivals, Panathinaikos.

This article is the breakdown of Panathinaikos’ Greek Superleague winning seasons where they rose to the summit and toppled the giant.

To truly understand why Panathinaikos’ winning league season was so special, you need to understand just how powerful the empire was. The empire being Olympiakos.

The ‘Gavroi’ (mockingly nicknamed by Panathinaikos fans) have been the cornerstone of Greek football since the top league’s inception in 1927 (as the Panhellenic Championship). Although Tryfili was the first of the two to get their hands on Greek silverware, Olympiakos soon followed with a dominance that would be a consistent pattern throughout history. Six league titles between 1931 and 1938 asserting the port city of Piraeus as the home of Greek football.

By 1959, when the Panhellenic Championship was converted to the Alpha Ethniki, Olympiakos had won 15 titles of the 23 that were held. During the same time period, Thrylos won 8 of the 13 editions of the Greek Cup. This period of dominance by Olympiakos earned them the aforementioned nickname of Thrylos, which translates to The Legend.

However, when the Panhellenic Championship dissolved and the Alpha Ethniki was born…it was the Tryfili who started chipping away at the empire. Throughout the 20 years that the Alpha Ethniki ran, Prasini won 9 titles whilst Thrylos settled for 5 proving that no team would sit atop of Greek football forever.

To lead the Prasini’s first revolt against Olympiakos, they turned to one of the greatest Yugoslavian players of all-time, Stjepan Bobek. Known as Bobek’s rejuvenation, the Tryfili promoted youth development and that was the key to their success. Titles and Greek Cups followed and the Prasini were thriving until Greek football was shaken to its core.

The military coup d’etat in 1967 forced out Bobek and the great Marton Bukovi of Olympiacos and ended both teams successful stints. A sad end for two greats of Greek football. However, the success of Panathinaikos was not halted and they managed to deal with the change of leadership much better than cross-city rivals.

Three titles followed including the infamous final appearance in the 1971 European Cup final. Under the guidance of another legend, this time Ferenc Puskas, Panathinaikos became the first and only Greek side to appear in a European Cup final but they were bested by Johan Cruyff’s dominating Ajax of the early 70s.

The yo-yoing of Greek dominance was clear during the Alpha Ethniki years. Olympiakos appointed Nikos Goulandris as club president in 1972 and he appointed ex-Panathinaikos manager, Lakis Petropoulos. Lakis partnered with Goulandris delivered three consecutive titles as Olympiacos bullied their way back to the top.

A four-year barren spell for Olympiakos was quickly forgotten about as when the league turned professional in 1979 Thrylos took home four consecutive titles under Polish coach, Kazimierz Gorski. They would win only 1 league title in the next 13 years. Holding onto power in Greek football was the goal for Olympiakos, but they lacked the consistency to win. When they were bad, they were bad.

The Tryfili would take advantage of Olympiacos’ financial demise winning 4 out of 7 league titles from 1990-96. Their most successful coach of the period was Argentine Juan Ramon Rocha who delivered 2 league titles, 2 Greek Cups and 1 Super Cup. Also, guiding them to a Champions League semi-final but would face a similar fate as Puskas’ side as they fell to Ajax.

Turning attention back to the Red and Whites of Greece. In 1993, Sokratis Kokkalis took over club presidency and cleared their crippling debt. Olympiacos were a strong side throughout their mid-90s barren spell but failed to convert their quality to a league title. This was until AEK manager Dusan Bajevic was appointed at the helm in Piraeus. 3 consecutive league titles and the foundations for their empire were built.

Coaches came and went, but winning was a mainstay. The Legend nickname became justified again as Olympiacos would win 7 consecutive titles, the record to this day. Their record-breaking 7th came down to the smallest of margins. A day to forget for any Tryfili fan.

One of the highest stakes matches in the eternal enemies derby history took place on the penultimate game of the season. On the 11th of May, Olympiacos beat Panathinaikos 3-0 with two goals from Stylianos Giannakopoulos which would make all the difference. Thrylos now had a 2 goal head-to-head advantage over Panathinaikos. Olympiacos won the title the following Sunday with a comprehensive victory and achieved ‘seven heaven’ down to two mere two goals.

Panathinaikos winger, Jonas Kolkas, recalled what happened following their horrible derby defeat to Olympiakos. “The president of the team came to the training ground the next day and told us we were all cowards and we couldn’t play football. The fans thought we had been paid by Olympiacos. We were all disappointed and the whole curse fell on us.”

Vengeance was brewing amongst the Prasini and they would do anything in their power to stop Olympiakos from winning their eighth, the task was daunting.

Argiris Mitsou, club president, knew things had to change. He appointed Israeli Itzhak Shum as head coach and signed 15 players in a move to overhaul the squad, spending around £2M. The notable signing was Dimitrios Papadopoulos from Burnley for £300k who would go on to prove the price tag and more.

However, by November it did not look like a double-winning outfit. ‘Eleftheros Typos’ an Athens newspaper reported that the players believed “enough is enough” as they called for Mitsou to sack Shum. Tryfili, at this stage, were out of their UCL group and were sitting in 2nd place. It was said that Shum had two weeks to save his job – he did just that.

Mitsou stood by Shum, and rightly so, as Prasini won 12 league games in a row which saw them climb to the top of the table, ahead of Olympiacos. Deploying a 442, Papadopoulos partnered alongside record-signing Konstantinou which proved pivotal in Panathinaikos run-in.

The derby of eternal enemies would once again take centre stage, this time on the biggest stage of them all. For the 11th time (hasn’t happened since), they faceoff for the Greek Cup. In the league, they were neck and neck meaning whoever won the Greek Cup would be on for the double.

Right from the start, the game was fiery. Stelios Venetidis of Olympiacos lunged at Giourkas Seitardis causing handbags within the first couple of minutes. However, Panathinaikos got their revenge as Papadopoulos headed home from a Munch cross in the 3rd minute giving Tryfili the lead.

Tempers flared again as Grigoris Georgatos stamped on Papadopolous as he lay on the floor. He escaped with a yellow (no doubt a red card in today’s game) but did not escape a substitution as he was brought off minutes later by Alefantos as they looked to change the shape.

The rough challenges kept coming Papadopolous’ way as Analotakis also should’ve seen red, he too got away with a yellow. Seconds later, Giovanni headed the Piraeus side back on level terms with 25 minutes to go and red flares were sparked from the Olympiacos end at the Nea Smyrni.

The Prasini would respond with flares of their own as minutes later Papadopolous flicked his head into the path of Konstantinou. He toe-poked home past Giannou and restored Tryfili’s lead. The recently lit green smoke covered the evaporating red smoke. Green overpowering a fading red, if that’s not a metaphor for how the 2003/04 season went I don’t know what is.

Panathinaikos would secure their 16th Greek Cup victory as Karembeu’s interception fell into the path of Konstantinou who provided the finish. He proceeded to circumnavigate the stadium to celebrate in front of the sea of green supporters. Revenge had been enacted from their 1999 derby cup defeat to Olympiakos.

Despite all the celebrations, the league was still not won. A late winner from Emmanuel Olisadebe against Proodeftiki on matchday 29 sent the title race down to the final game of the season.

Olympiacos were hosting 5th placed AO Egaleo, meanwhile in Pyrgos Panathinaikos visited Paniliakos Pyrgos who were fighting for survival. Across the country, 300km away Prasini fans gathered watching attentively at pubs and houses.

75 minutes had passed on the final game of the season. Olympiakos were winning 3-1 whilst Panathinaikos were in a stalemate against Paniliakos Pyrgos. The title was slipping from their hands until one man stepped up.

Olisadebe controlled a loose ball from the air and with three clever touches he set himself up to strike into the bottom corner. As Olisadebe hoisted himself over the advertising boards and onto the running track at Dimotiko Stadio Pyrgou, a wave of green followed and swarmed him. A famous image depicted a disabled man being escorted off the pitch in his wheelchair.

The Tryfili astutely held on for 15 minutes and then the celebrations ensued. Their 7 years spent in the shadow of Olympiakos’ success had finally vanquished. Panathinaikos were champions for the 19th time and with that league win, they completed their first double since 1995.

After 7 years in the shadowing of Olympiakos, Panathinaikos finally stepped out. It was a moment for all of Greek football to take solace in as Olympiakos could be beaten. Throughout the 91 years that these two nemeses’ have clashed horns, it has often been Olympiakos reigning supreme.

Thrylos, in 2004, had 32 titles to their name, whilst Panathinaikos had achieved their 19th in that year. The margin was still wide, but it gave great hope for Panathinaikos that they could reincarnate the sides of 1960s and 1990s and great a dynasty of their own.

Unfortunately for Panathinaikos, their breakthrough in 2004 didn’t signal the fall of the empire. If anything, it made the empire strike back.