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Greek Cup

Greek Football Cup
Logo of Greek Football Cup for season 2012-13.png
Founded 1931
Region  Greece
Number of teams 34
Current champions AEK Athens
(15 titles)
Most successful club(s) Olympiacos
(27 titles)
Television broadcasters OTE Sport
Website www.epo.gr
Current season

The Greek Football Cup (Greek: Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or for sponsorship reasons the Football Cup OPAP, is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation.

Because it involves clubs of all standards playing against each other, there is the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament and even theoretically win the Cup.

The holders of the Greek Cup are AEK Athens, who beat Olympiacos 2–1 in the 2016 final held on May 17, 2016.

The Greek Cup under EPO began in 1931. In its early years, entry was optional. Teams were paired against each other by the football associations, without a draw taking place. Later on, for many years, a proper draw took place and two-leg matches were held up to the final. In the 90s, the qualifying matches were played in groups. The winners of the groups played against each other up to the final in two-leg matches.

Until 1964, if the final score was a draw (including extra time), the two teams played another match, while penalties didn't exist. That year, in the semi-final match between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos (final score: 1–1), fans of both teams stormed the pitch, damaged the ground and virtually stopped the game, believing that it was fixed to end in a draw, in order to be replayed for financial reasons.

The next year a new rule was applied, to determine that, if the game was undecided even after extra time, the winner would be determined by the toss of a coin. That rule was abolished in 1969, when the penalty shootout was applied.


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