Well, they were going to repeat that, reaching the Cup final. The other finalist was lowly… Panionios (Athens). A club without a single trophy in their very long history and not one of the big clubs either. Modest boys… fretting over relegation. They were 14th in league, escaping relegation by measly 2 points. They had one of weakest attack line this season and not much of a defense. The Cup was in the bag… of Panionios. 3-1!
Surprise Cup winners and getting a trophy at last. Panionios was one of ‘expelled’ clubs – like AEK and PAOK, it was found in Turkey. And very long time ago – in 1890. It was originally located in the city of Smyrna – Izmir – and moved to Greece in 1922 as part of the post-war exchange of population with Turkey. The emigrants from Smyrna settled in their own neighbourhood in Athens – Nea Smyrna – and the club too was based there. And that was all until 1979 and their famous victory.
With their first ever trophy – the joy was endless!
And still hard to believe for some… but the Cup was in their hands. A fine hour for the underdog. The heroes were not much as a team, but not entirely anonymous – they had some well known players.
Noni Lima, Mavrikis, and Anastopoulos greet the fans after winning the trophy. Mavrikis was just a local hero, but the other two were something else. Nikos Anastopoulos, 22 years old striker, was already making a name for himself. Rapidly improving, he became of the best Greek strikers in the 1980s and he was one of the very rare Greek players to attract the interest of foreign clubs at the time – he eventually played in Italy, but he was already a national team player in 1979. Of course, a new star was not to last in a modest club… and he did not last long. Noni Lima, from Cape Verde, was laready one of the respected and loved players in Greece – he arrived in 1977 and settled well. He was also loyal to Panionios, quickly becoming their star – and is a legend today. The two stars did not disapoint at the final – they scored one goal each. Interestingly, Noni Lima did not score at all during the championship – his sole goal this year came at the most important match, however. Right on target. The last curiosity was the coach – Panionios was one of few clubs in the league employing a Greek coach. A special Greek too, as becoming to an emigrant club – Panos Markovic. The name is no Greek… he was born in Drama, which had big Bulgarian population and still many people there are of Bulgarian descent. The name is more Serbian, but who knows – a full-blooded Greek he was obviously not, and one ‘displaced’ brought the victory to the other ‘displaced’ – a perfect match. A great season for Panionios. Well, their greatest, for this is still there only trophy.