OFI Crete beat PAOK 3-2 after extra time on Saturday at Panthessaliko Stadium in Volos to lift the Greek Cup, ending a 37-year trophy drought and booking a place in next season's Europa League.
Christos Kontis watched the scenes unfold from the touchline as his players completed a comeback that sent OFI their second Greek Cup and their first major prize since 1987, and marked Kontis’s second cup success at the same stadium in three years.
The match swung quickly. PAOK opened the scoring in the 15th minute through Giannis Michailidis, only for Taxi Fountas to level for OFI in the 28th minute. Five minutes into the second half a flowing OFI move put them ahead, and the game looked to be drifting toward a famous win for the Cretans.
PAOK refused to fold. Alexander Jeremejeff grabbed a dramatic equalizer in the seventh minute of added time to force extra time and keep the trophy in play, setting up a final period that would be decided by a single moment.
Late in the first half of extra time, OFI were awarded a penalty after a handball that halted PAOK’s momentum. Aaron Leya Iseka stepped up and converted from the spot to make it 3-2, and OFI held on through the remaining minutes to secure the title.
The result carries clear weight: it is OFI’s second Greek Cup, and their first trophy since that 1987 victory, a gap that framed the mood among players and supporters alike. The win also sends OFI into European competition next season, the most immediate concrete prize from a night of tense swings and late drama.
Context underlines how unusual the achievement is. OFI had beaten AEK on their way to the final, and both clubs entered the match with a centenary narrative in the background, the promotional material noting a 100th anniversary celebration between the teams. PAOK had prepared for the showdown with a final training session that focused on set pieces, yet even careful preparation could not prevent the sequence of late goals that decided the game.
The match contained friction that did not sit cleanly with either side’s prep. PAOK’s late equalizer suggested they had energy left in reserve, but the handball that handed OFI the winning penalty immediately after exposed how thin the margin was between control and catastrophe in a final. For Kontis, who had already lifted a cup at the same stadium two years earlier, the repeat victory raises questions about whether venue familiarity has become an advantage — and whether OFI can convert cup form into a sustained run in Europe.
For OFI, the conclusion is straightforward: this is a club moment, not a fluke. The trophy ends a decades-long wait, secures continental football and crowns a cup strategy that has now delivered silverware twice in a short span for Kontis. For PAOK, the loss will sting doubly because a late, practiced set-piece plan and a stoppage-time rescue still left them short.
The most consequential fact going forward is immediate and measurable: OFI will travel into next season’s Europa League with momentum and a trophy that changes expectations at the club; how they translate a cup night in Volos into European results will determine whether this victory is a milestone or the start of a genuine revival.
