Compared to Second Division, First Division was shiny clean… no strikes here and no reason for striking: after all, first division players were going to be officially professional starting next season. But top flight had its own scandal.
Iraklis (Thessaloniki) finished 8th . Having arguably the biggest star of the time – Hadzipanagis – was not enough for climbing higher, but… mid-table position was good only for relegation. The club was found guilty of fixing games and expelled from the league. One may only wonder who else was fixing games… One may also wonder what would be the status of Hadzipanagis next year – with his lucrative, but restrictive contract, who was obviously a professional player… in non-professional football. And now he was going down to officially non-professional league as what? Professional? Amateur? Go figure. One thing was sure: he was not free to join either big Greek club, or Arsenal (London). Iraklis was not the only club found guilty – Kastoria was penalized too. They had 1 point deducted for fielding illegal player. Compared to fixing matches, small potatoes… but for some reason wide spread and persisting. When and how clubs will learn that using illegal players is easily discovered and readily punished? Apparently, never.
Iraklis saved Apollon (Athens) – normally, they should have been relegated, for they finished 17th . Well, no such luck for the absolute outsiders this season –
A.P.S. Rodos, with their 19 points, were far bellow any other club and finished last. Down to Second Division they went – that is, to their usual dwellings.
Most of the league was pretty much the same as ever:
PAS Giannina still enjoyed the best years of its history and finished 6th. Decline was coming, though.
OFI Crete continued to struggle just to keep a place among the best – they were 11th. Their best years were yet in the unknown future. The club employed Austrian player – Peter Koncilia, the brother of the impressive goalkeeper Friedl Koncilia. OFI also played entirely in black, are very rare kit colour in those years.
The whole fun was at the top of the league. The championship was not only contested to the end, but the season finished without winners: Panathinaikos and AEK were with 45 points each, and Olympiakos and Aris – with 47 each. Play-offs were scheduled to decide the top three teams.
Goal-difference was not a decisive factor in Greece – at least not when medals were at stake. If it was, AEK should have been comfortably 2rd this year. But they had to meet Panathinaikos in one more match – the play-off took place on neutral ground in Pireaus. A goal in the 60th minute by Ore placed AEK 4th and outside international football.
Standing from left: Christos Giannakoulis, Vassilios Konstantinou, Spiros Livathinos, Kostas Antoniou, Anthimos Kapsis, Helmut Kirisits.
First row: Lakis Katsiakos, Juan Jose Ore, Giorgos Delikaris, Christos Yfantidis, Oscar Alvarez.
Panathinaikos had a weak season by their standards, but at the end clinched the bronze medals and a place in the UEFA Cup. As for the itchy foreign-player problems… well 3 are here: Kirisitz (Austria), Ore (Peru), and Alvarez (Argentina). Must be two… so one played as domestic. Soon it will be a problem – in the 1980-81 season, when a new Argentine arrival was registered with Greek papers under the name ‘Boublis’. But so far no scandal and third place in the final table.
The title was decided away from the big Athens-Piraeus stadiums: in Volos. Here Olympiakos met the aspirations of Aris to get away the title. But the team from Thesaloniki lost 0-2, after goals scored in the beggining of the second half by Vaggelis Kousoulakis and Thomas Alstrom.
Excellent season for Aris – they had a chance to win the title for the first time since 1946. Aris had a good squad, even some national team players, but they were a bit short of real class. A tiny difference showed itself at the play-off: Olympiakos scored two quick goals, which were unanswered. Thus, Aris lost its chance – and a chance it was, for if it was to goal-difference, they were behind Olympiakos in the regular season. Not by much, but behind.
Olympiakos added one more title, but it was hardly a memorable season. They struggled fighting with Aris to the end. It was not a season leaving fond memories – even a picture of the team is difficult to find.
This is a photo of the time period, but may be not from 1979-80. The team is rarely mentioned, although some of the players are time-honoured stars of the club – but when it comes to their big achievements different seasons are pointed out. Well known coach lead them to victory – the Yugoslav Todor Veselinovic – but when it comes to big names… his successor Kazimierz Gorski, who came after the end of this season is praised. The squad was full of srong names – Greek (Kyrastas, Kritikopoulos) and foreign (Losada, Rohrbach, Ahlstrom), yet, even players from this squad are usually mentioned as great in the next season (Martin Novoselac, Maik Galakos). One more title, that was all.