The 2019–20 season was the 96th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 59th competitive season and fifth consecutive in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Super League, the Greek Cup and the Europa League. The season began on 8 August 2019 and finished on 12 September 2020.
The team started their competitive obligations in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, facing Universitatea Craiova. In the first match at Stadionul Ion Oblemenco that was empty of spectators due to Craiova's suspension for incidents in their previous match, AEK could not threaten the Romanians. The entrance of Livaja on the pitch changed everything with the Croatian forward achieving a goal and an assist forming the final 0–2, which almost sealed the qualification. In the empty Olympic Stadium, due to the punishment of AEK for the incidents of the previous season,[2] the rematch took place that everyone expected to be a walk for the yellow-blacks. AEK took the lead relatively early in the game, but afterwards everyone eased up, with the Romanians not only equalizing in the second half but missing a lot of opportunities to take the lead and chase and qualification. Nevertheless, the score remained at 1–1 and AEK took the qualification. In the first match for the play-offs of the competition against were against the Trabzonspor at home. The stadium was empty of spectators yet again and AEK made dream start with a goal by Livaja in just 4 minutes in the game. However, the Turks equalized later on and as a result the performance of the yellow-blacks collapsed, conceding two more goals, while they could well have easily conceded more. The crushing failure in the match combined with the second consecutive home defeat three days later at the hands of Xanthi, resulted in the sacking of not only Miguel Cardoso and his staff, but of the technical director, Nikos Liberopoulos, as well.[3] The management replaced the Portuguese with the until-then U19 team coach and former player of the club, Nikos Kostenoglou in his third spell at the bench of the team.[4] Thus, AEK went to Şenol Güneş Stadium and after a great performance, dominated their opponents and won by 0–2, losing the qualification on away goals.
With Kostenoglou at the bench, the team showed the feeling of self-preservation and gave a boost in their performance, but the season seemed to be problematic from the start. AEK were presenting last year's problems and could not follow Olympiacos and PAOK in the title race. Thus, at the beginning of December, the management ended their collaboration with Kostenoglou.[5] The new technical director, Ilija Ivić brought in well-known coach, Massimo Carrera, who had previously success with Spartak Moscow.[6] The Italian entered with great appetite and the club showed willingness to strengthen their roster, after acquiring on loan Damian Szymański and Sergio Araujo, in his third spell at the club. AEK were going through a good period in terms of results, ending up in third place before the start of the play-offs.[7]
During that period the crisis COVID-19 pandemic began, and the banning measures of all sporting activities slow down the course of AEK and essentially put the completion of the season in uncertainty. Eventually, the season restarted in early June with the play-offs. There, AEK did not maintain the same image as they did before the interruption and lost the opportunity to finish second in a match that was accompanied by the incomprehensible for many decision of the administration not to object to the match against PAOK since the latter team had knowingly come down with unreviewed health cards of the footballers, which would have resulted in their nullification in this particular match if AEK had done what the law stipulates.[8]
In the cup, AEK easily passed through Asteras Tripolis in the round of 16 and Panetolikos in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, they faced Aris and after an easy 2–1 win in the first at home, which was the last with crowd before the lockdown, went to Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium three months later. Aris took a 2–0 lead and were close to qualifying, but AEK woke up and scored in the final minutes to take the match into extra time. From there had an easy task as they equalized, missing many chances to win the match, as well. Thus, the yellow-blacks were qualified to the final undefeated and for fourth consecutive year. This time their opponent were Olympiacos who had won the league. The match was originally scheduled for 26 July, but was postponed, due to the pressure of Olympiacos to the HFF in order to change the stadium from Georgios Kamaras Stadium to Olympic Stadium and after the refusal of the Hellenic Police for the first stadium.[9] The final was rescheduled for 30 August in the Olympic Stadium but it was postponed again because two days before the game Olympiacos' player, Maximiliano Lovera, was tested positive for COVID-19[10] and was rescheduled again for 12 September at Panthessaliko Stadium. Due to the delay of the match, the teams had to compete without the players acquired from the 2020 summer transfer period, by decision of the UEFA.[11] In the match AEK came into the match strongly, but conceded a goal due to individual mistakes, while afterwards they surrendered and played without a plan. Until the end, the psychologically unprepared AEK were unable to seriously threaten the red and whites and were finally defeated with 0–1 by an extremely inadequate Olympiacos. That was the fourth consecutive defeat in a cup final and showed that psychologically the team had started to show big issues in managing high-pressure games.
NOTE: The players are the ones that have been announced by the AEK Athens' press release. No edits should be made unless a player arrival or exit is announced. Updated 12 September 2020, 23:59 UTC+3.
Source: Superleague Greece, Soccerway Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Play-offs (neutral ground). (Note: Criteria 6 is only used if needed to decide champion, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions). Notes:
Source: Superleague Greece, Soccerway Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Goals against; 6) Play-offs (neutral ground); 7) Draw. (Note: Criteria 6 is only used if needed to decide champion, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).[68] (C) Champions Notes:
^Panathinaikos were banned from UEFA club competitions for the first season they would qualify between the 2018–19 and 2020–21 seasons by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body on 24 April 2018 due to overdue payables, and since they did not qualify for either the 2018–19 or 2019–20 season, they were banned from the 2020–21 season.[67]
The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal, then by shirt number and then alphabetically by surname. Clean sheets in games where both goalkeepers participated are awarded to the goalkeeper who started the game. Goalkeepers with no appearances are not included.
