1979–80 Greek Football Cup

Totally 58 teams participated, 18 from Alpha Ethniki and 40 from Beta Ethniki. It was held in 6 rounds, including the final.

For the first time, a provincial club (not based in Attica and Thessaloniki Prefecture), Kastoria, was awarded the cup. They achieved an unexpected victory over Iraklis in the Final with the impressive score of 5–2,[1] while at the same time ensured (for the first and only time until today) their participation in next season's Cup Winners' Cup.

In their way to the Final, Kastoria eliminated Ethnikos Piraeus (winning during extra time and while Ethnikos had 5 post hits), Kavala, Olympiakos Loutraki, Larissa and Makedonikos.

On the other hand, Iraklis eliminated lower division teams Veria, Niki Volos, Almopos Aridea and Panarkadikos to reach the semifinals, where they faced rivals PAOK. Both matches were held in Iraklis home, Lysandros Kaftanzoglou Stadium and Iraklis progressed to the Final with a 2–1 aggregate victory. Before the second leg, there was an alleged bribe attempt of a PAOK footballer (Filotas Pellios) by Iraklis. Due to those charges, Iraklis were eventually relegated to Beta Ethniki.

Earlier, PAOK had eliminated Olympiacos, AEK Athens and Aris, before they were eliminated by fellow-citizen Iraklis. Panathinaikos made an early exit from the cup, following the defeat by PAS Giannina in the Second Round.

From First Round matches, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, PAOK and Iraklis won Beta Ethniki teams with big scores. Takis Tsironis of Kastoria was elected first scorer with 9 goals, 3 of them in Final. Kastoria success was decisive for some of their players' careers, as Sarganis, Simeoforidis, Papavasiliou and Dintsikos were later acquired by Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens.

First legs were played on March 5, 1980. Second legs on April 26.

First legs were played on May 7, 1980, while second on the 14th.

• Both games held at Kaftanzoglio Stadium (Iraklis home ground). The Second leg took part on 21 May.

The 36th Greek Cup Final was played at the Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens.

25 May 1980

Kastoria	5 – 2	Iraklis
Simaioforidis  40' Dintsikos  49' Tsironis  69', 87', 90+1' (pen.)		Kalambakas  14' (pen.) Mavrodoulakis  80'

Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 9,471

Referee: Vourakis (Piraeus)

1 Nikos Sarganis  88' 2 Lazaros Alexiadis 5 Lakis Simaioforidis 6 Georgios Paraschos (c) 3 Giannis Siapanidis 4 Antonis Kopanos 10 Grigoris Papavasiliou 8 Argiris Papavasiliou 7 Ioannis Dintsikos  72' 9 Andreas Voitsidis 11 Dimitris Tsironis Substitutes: Giorgos Chounouzidis  72' Thanasis Ermidis  88' Manager: Savvas Vasiliadis

1 Tasos Papadopoulos 2 Vasilis Voulgaris 4 Giannis Mavrodoulakis  81' 5 Georgios Michailidis  54' 3 Henryk Wawrowski 6 Charalambos Xanthopoulos 10 Tasos Kafkenaris 8 Ilias Chatzieleftheriou  70' 7 Nikos Kalambakas 11 Vassilis Hatzipanagis 9 Lakis Papaioannou Substitutes: 14 Vangelis Tsirikas  70' 16 Ilias Alexiadis  81' Manager: Kostas Karapatis

• Greek Cup 1979-80 at RSSSF
• sport24 Το έπος των γουναράδων at sport24.gr