Agia Sophia Stadium Guide - OPAP Arena - AEK Athens

Agia Sophia Stadium, Athens, Greece

OPAP Arena, Athens. — The exterior of OPAP Arena - home of AEK

The Agia Sophia Stadium (Αγιά Σοφιά) is the home ground of AEK Athens, a large, successful club in Greek football.

The 32,500 capacity soccer-specific stadium is the third largest soccer stadium in Greece after the Olympic Stadium of Athens and Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus.

For sponsorship reasons the stadium is known as the OPAP Arena; OPAP is a major Greek betting company. Agia Sophia Stadium is the newest stadium in Greece.

History

The stadium opened in 2022 and was constructed over the old Nikos Goumas Stadium, built back in 1929-1930. Nikos Goumas, named after a former club president, had to close in 2003, due to earthquake damage in 1999. This led to a long period of exile for AEK.

Altogether AEK were homeless for approximately 19 years, mostly lodgers at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, from May 2003 until the opening of their new arena in 2022. Due to political and bureaucratic hurdles, not exactly unheard of in Greece, work did not even commence on the new ground until 2017.

The new stadium is modeled after the Hagia Sophia church in Constantinople (now officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, aka Blue Mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey), as AEK has its roots in the city. The club was founded in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees from Constantinople, following the 1919-22 Greco-Turkish war and a population exchange between the two nations.

The stadium hosted the 2024 UEFA Europa Conference League final between Olympiacos and Fiorentina. Olympiacos won the match 1-0 thus becoming the first Greek club to win a major European competition.

Facilities at the Agia Sophia include a museum dedicated to the club's history, The Museum of Refugee Hellenism of AEK Athens, which also includes a tour of the ground.

The exterior of the stadium. — The exterior of the stadium

AEK Athens

Founded in 1924, the club is one of the most successful in Greece. AEK (Athlitiki Enosi Konstantinopouleos) are one of Greece's 'Big Four' clubs - alongside Olympiakos, Panathinaikos (in the capital), and to a lesser extent PAOK (in Thessaloniki in the north of the country).

The club's nicknames include Dikéfalos (a Double-Headed Eagle that appears on the club crest), Énosi (Union) and the Kitrinómavri (Yellow-blacks) - yellow and black stripes and black shorts are the club colors.

The team has won the Greek title 13 times, the latest in the 2022-2023 season and the Greek Cup 16 times, the last time also in the 2022-2023 season.

Players & Coaches

Goalkeeper Stelios Serafidis played for AEK between 1953 and 1972 making 243 appearances. His name is honoured on one of the four pillars at the ground.

Dusan Bajevic, the Bosnian forward and later manager, played as a striker for the club from 1977-1981 and later managed the team in three spells from 1988-1996, from 2002-2004 and once again from 2008-2010.

Mimis Papaioannou is the club's all-time top scorer and record appearance maker with 236 goals between 1962 and 1979 in 481 games.

Defender Stelios Manolas made 437 appearances for the club between 1980 and 1998.

OPAP Arena is the 3rd largest soccer stadium in Greece. — OPAP Arena is the 3rd largest soccer stadium in Greece

Greek stars in the more modern era include midfielder Vasilios Tsiartas who had two spells with AEK from 1992 to 1996 and 2000 and 2004. Tsiartas was a key member of Greece's Euro 2004 triumph.

Foreign players who have donned the yellow and black include Croatian defender Domagoj Vida, Argentinian Erik Lamela and England's Joleon Lescott who made 4 appearances in 2016 near the end of his career.

AEK v Aberdeen. — Europa Conference League match AEK v Aberdeen

Access - Getting There

The stadium is located in Nea Filadelfeia, a suburb in the northwest of Athens.

The closest metro stations on Line 1 are Perissos, about a 10-minute walk from the stadium and Pefkakia about 20 minutes on foot.

Trolleybuses 3 and 6 also stop near the ground as do the following buses: 421, 619, 755, 755B and B9.

For European games shuttle buses often leave from Panathenaic Stadium for the ground. Police advise against using the metro or walking to the stadium, particularly for away fans.