Superleague
When AEK opened in New Philadelphia with a friendly against Barcelona
Today is opening day for AEK, but the Union has also held openings at home in the past. One of these was in 1962 with a friendly against Barcelona while the game was closely watched by Franco.
AEK returns to where it belongs today. In New Philadelphia. Where the OPAP Arena Nikos Goumas once stood. A stadium created in 1930 by the refugees who settled in the area.
However, in 1962 a rather important intervention took place in the stadium. It was at this time that the Union inaugurated the stadium’s new stands (the north wing of Gate 21) and also the new turf, a project that lasted seven years and is credited to then-Union President Nico Guma. After all, it was the most important “intervention” that took place in the stadium after its creation.
AEK celebrated this event with a great friendly against Barcelona in the presence of 38,000 fans. In fact, the friendly game was closely watched by Franco, but also by Princess Sofia.
The result ended 6-0 in favor of the Catalans. The composition of AEK was as follows: Serafeidis (Fakis) Anastasiadis, Marditsis, Sofianidis, Papapostolou (Polyzos) Skeufylakas, Gouvas (Tsachouridis) Stamatiadis (Demiris) Nestoridis, Krystallis, Ambos.
Source: sport 24
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.