1959–60 Alpha Ethniki

The 1959–60 Alpha Ethniki was the 24th season of the highest football league of Greece and the first season of the nationwide league after the league replaced the Panhellenic Championship. The season began on 25 October 1959 and ended on 31 July 1960 with the play-off matches. Panathinaikos won their fourth Greek title and their first in seven years.

Alpha Ethniki

Season	1959–60
Champions	Panathinaikos 4th Greek title
Relegated	Pankorinthiakos Megas Alexandros Katerinis AE Nikaia
European Cup	Panathinaikos
Matches played	240
Goals scored	619 (2.58 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kostas Nestoridis (33 goals)
Biggest home win	Olympiakos 8–1 Panegialios
Biggest away win	AE Nikaia 2–7 Ethnikos Piraeus
Highest scoring	Olympiakos 8–1 Panegialios AE Nikaia 2–7 Ethnikos Piraeus
← 1958–59 1960–61 →

The 16 teams that formed the first national championship were resulted as follows:

• Panathenian Championship: The first 4 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Panathinaikos, Panionios, AEK Athens and Apollon Athens)
• Piraeus' Championship: The first 3 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Olympiacos, Ethnikos Piraeus and AE Nikaia)
• Macedonian Championship: The first 3 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Aris, PAOK and Apollon Kalamarias)
• Regional Championship Southern Group:The first 2 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Panegialios and Pankorinthiakos)
• Regional Championship Northern Group:The first 2 teams of the 1958–59 season. (Doxa Drama and Megas Alexandros Katerinis)
• The 2 final places were secured after a play-off matches by the 4th teams Piraeus' and Macedonian Championship against the 2nd teams of the South and North group respectively. (Proodeftiki and Iraklis against Olympiacos Chalkidas/OFI Crete and Aspida Xanthi)

The point system was: Win: 3 points - Draw: 2 points - Loss: 1 point.

Qualification round

Initially there were going to be 18 teams in the first division, however, the delay of 6 weeks in the start of the event due to the financial negotiations between the involved parties General Secretary of Sport, OPAP, HFF and in some places FCAs, put its serious completion in a timely manner. The HFF took the decision to reduce the number of teams to 16 and as a consequence a promotional play-off round was formed to decide the last two places of the championship.

Southern Group 2nd-place play-offs

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	Play-off
Olympiacos Chalkida	4–3	OFI	2–1	1–2	1–0

Olympiacos Chalkida qualifies to the promotional Play-offs.

Promotion play-offs

South

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	Play-off
Olympiacos Chalkida	2–5	Proodeftiki	2–2	0–0	0–3

North

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Iraklis	3–0	Aspida Xanthi	1–0	2–0

 

 

AEK Athens
Apollon A.
Panathinaikos
Panionios

 

Apollon K.
Aris
Iraklis
PAOK

 

AE Nikaia
Ethnikos
Olympiacos
Proodeftiki

 

Doxa

 

M. Alexandros Katerinis

 

Panegialios

 

Pankorinthiakos

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Location of teams in 1959–60 Alpha Ethniki

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Panathinaikos (C)	30	22	5	3	59	20	+39	79^[a]	Qualification for European Cup first round
2	AEK Athens	30	21	7	2	72	27	+45	79^[a]
3	Olympiacos	30	16	8	6	52	24	+28	70
4	Apollon Athens	30	13	10	7	52	33	+19	66
5	Panionios	30	14	6	10	46	31	+15	64
6	Doxa Drama	30	11	8	11	47	41	+6	60
7	PAOK	30	10	9	11	32	32	0	59^[b]
8	Aris	30	10	9	11	31	35	−4	59^[b]
9	Iraklis	30	9	10	11	29	34	−5	58^[c]
10	Proodeftiki	30	10	8	12	34	36	−2	58^[c]
11	Apollon Kalamarias	30	7	12	11	31	39	−8	56
12	Ethnikos Piraeus	30	8	10	12	34	46	−12	56
13	Panegialios	30	9	7	14	26	43	−17	55^[d]
14	Pankorinthiakos (R)	30	9	7	14	27	45	−18	55^[d]	Relegation to FCA Winners' Championship
15	Megas Alexandros Katerinis (R)	30	4	9	17	27	60	−33	47
16	AE Nikaia (R)	30	2	5	23	20	73	−53	39

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th decision match.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Championship Play-off: Panathinaikos–AEK Athens 2–1 (see below).
2. 7th place play-off: PAOK–Aris 0–0, PAOK were placed ahead Aris due to the better goal average in regular season.
3. 9th place play-off: Iraklis–Proodeftiki 2–0.
4. Relegation play-out: Panegialios–Pankorinthiakos 2–1.

Results

Home \ Away	AEN	AEK	APA	APK	ARIS	DOX	ETH	IRA	MEG	OLY	PANK	PAO	PNG	PGSS	PAOK	PRO
AE Nikaia		0–3	0–2	0–2	2–3	0–3	2–7	1–2	3–2	1–4	3–0	0–1	0–2	0–5	1–1	0–1
AEK Athens	2–0		5–2	6–2	3–0	4–3	4–0	3–0	0–0	1–0	5–1	1–0	4–0	2–0	3–1	4–2
Apollon Athens	6–0	0–0		4–1	0–0	3–2	6–1	2–2	2–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–3	2–1	3–0
Apollon Kalamarias	2–2	1–1	0–2		1–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	5–1	0–0	2–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–1
Aris	2–1	2–2^[a]	2–3	0–1		1–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–3	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0
Doxa Drama	2–1	2–0	3–2	1–1	2–2		1–0	2–0	4–1	0–0	2–1	1–3	2–0	2–3	1–1	2–4
Ethnikos Piraeus	0–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	2–2		1–1	2–0	3–3	1–2	0–3	1–0	1–0	3–1	2–0
Iraklis	3–0	0–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1		0–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–0
Megas Alexandros Katerinis	1–0	2–4	0–0	2–2	2–2	0–3	0–1	2–3		0–4	2–2	0–0	1–1	1–4	1–0	1–2
Olympiacos	2–1	0–1	2–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	4–0		1–0	1–4	8–1	1–0	1–2	3–1
Pankorinthiakos	1–1	0–0	1–4	2–2	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–0		1–2	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–0
Panathinaikos	6–1	2–2	0–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	3–0	4–1	3–0	0–0	4–2		2–1	4–3	1–0	2–1
Panegialios	1–0	1–4	3–2	3–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–2	1–1	0–1		0–0	2–3	0–0
Panionios	3–0	3–2	0–0	1–0	0–3	3–2	4–0	1–2	2–1	0–1	3–0	0–1	1–1		2–1	1–0
PAOK	0–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	0–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	3–2	2–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	0–0		2–1
Proodeftiki	4–0	2–2	0–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–1

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Aris-AEK Athens 2-1, replayed 2-2.

Championship play-off

31 July 1960

17:00 EET

Panathinaikos	2–1	AEK Athens
Panakis   35' Papaemmanouil   48'	Report	Ampos   14'

Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus

Attendance: 20,923

Referee: Daniel Mele (Switzerland)

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Kostas Nestoridis	AEK Athens	33
2	Giorgos Kamaras	Apollon Athens	19
3	Elias Yfantis	Olympiacos	16
4	Pavlos Grigoriadis	Doxa Drama	14
5	Giannis Cholevas	Apollon Athens	13
6	Vangelis Karafoulidis	Megas Alexandros Katerinis	11
	Lakis Sofianos	Panegialios
	Andreas Stamatiadis	AEK Athens

External links

• (in Greek)
• Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation