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
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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 Giorgos 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.
For the UEFA Cup, AEK was drawn with Cypriot Omonia and seemingly seemed the absolute favorite for the qualification. Donis, trying to change AEK's playing philosophy from the previous seasons, tried to implement an unattractive football model and very soon AEK paid the price. In Athens, Omonia, with a lucky goal towards the end of the first half, took the lead and finally got the victory against the unrecognizable and lazy AEK. AEK in the last match of Rivaldo, who in the following days surpisingly left for Bunyodkor from Uzbekistan, did not react at any point of the match, unable to produce phases and reduced to meaningless possession. The completely wrong approach and preparation of the match by Donis and his footballers made the task of AEK very difficult out of nowhere. The disaster for AEK was completed in the second leg at GSP Stadium, where spirited and tough Omonia limited them again, taking the lead in the score and despite being equalized by AEK did not lose control of the match, regaining the lead in the second half and only AEK managed to avoid the second defeat, equalizing at the end of the match. The disastrous exclusion from Europe effectively put AEK out of financial plans, which increased introversion and essentially forced Nikolaidis to leave earlier than the end of his presidency as he had informed the shareholders from the beginning of the summer.