2008–09 AEK Athens F.C. season

The 2008–09 season was the 85th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 50th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Super League, the Greek Cup and the UEFA Cup. The season began on 14 August 2008 and finished on 31 May 2009.

Kits

Supplier: PumaSponsor(s): LG CorpFeatures: Chevrolet, Diners Club

Overview

A strange and ultimately unsuccessful season for AEK, who failed to handle the outcome of the previous season's Wallner case, mainly at the administrative level, but also at the financial level. The president, Demis Nikolaidis, decided to put his resignation at the disposal of the shareholders of the club, but he proceeded with fundamental changes in both the roster and the technical leadership of the team. He spent a lot of money, in order to change the balance in dressing room by essentially releasing the captains, Dellas and Liberopoulos and selling the talented Papastathopoulos to Genoa. He even proceeded with very expensive transfers for the club's standards, especially with that of Rafik Djebbour from Panionios, who spent the record amount of 3,200,000 euros. Alonsgside Djebbour, AEK also proceeded in the transfers of Kyrgiakos, Basinas, Majstorović, Saja, Pelletieri, Burns, Geraldo Alves and Juanfran, but the one who stood out was that of Ignacio Scocco, which was also the highest quality transfer during the Nikolaidis presidency. The most debatable choice of Nikolaidis was the hiring of Georgios Donis for the position of coach, since Donis had only worked with teams of a lower magnitude, where there wasn't the high pressure of the league race. The club sold 18,200 season tickets.