The 1980 Greek Cup final was the 36th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 25 May 1980 at Nikos Goumas Stadium. The contesting teams were Iraklis and Kastoria. It was Iraklis' fourth Greek Cup final in their 72 years of existence and Kastoria's first ever Greek Cup final in their 17-year history.[1] Iraklis on their way to the final, faced their local rivals PAOK on the semi-finals. Before the second leg, there was an alleged bribe attempt by Iraklis on the footballer of PAOK, Filotas Pellios. Due to those charges, Iraklis were eventually relegated to the second division, despite the prescribed penalty being the exclusion from next year's Cup. The allegations were later proven false, but the relegation decision was not overturned.[2] With their conquest of the Cup, Kastoria became the first club that was not based in neither Attica or Thessaloniki to win the trophy, while at the same time ensured their only participation in the next season's Cup Winners' Cup.[3]
Venue
This was the fifth Greek Cup final held at AEK Stadium, after the 1962, 1967, 1974 and 1976 finals.
AEK Stadium was built in 1930 and it has been renovated in 1979. The stadium is used as a venue for AEK Athens and was used for Greece in various occasions. Its current capacity is 35,000.[4]
Background
Iraklis had reached the Greek Cup final three times, winning one of them. The last time that they played in a final was in 1976, where they had won Olympiacos by 6–5 on penalties, which came after a 4–4 draw at the end of the extra time.
Kastoria had never competed in a Cup final.
The two teams had never met each other in a Cup final.[5]
