Appeal victory keeps AEK afloat

Creditors agreement
Judges voted to grant AEK an exemption under Article 44 of the 1892/90 law, a decision that enabled the Athenians to write off most of their debts as 60 per cent of their creditors agreed to waive their rights to a full payment of money owed. In this case, creditors included multinational companies ENIC and NetMed as well as the Greek state.

Staff paid
The decision reduces AEK's debt from a reported €162.8m to €23m, allowing the club's bank accounts - frozen by the state - to be reopened. Thus, €1.5m owed to players and staff can now be paid, while contracts can be negotiated with potential sponsors. The club can also apply for a loan, and have until 2014 to clear their debt with the state.

'Happiest day'
Nikolaidis said: "I have to thank all those people who helped so AEK could be granted the status of article 44. We managed to convince the court and the state that it was to everyone's benefit that AEK would not go bankrupt. Everybody stands to gain from this decision - more so the Greek state. This is the happiest day of my professional life. Now our goal is to get a loan, to look for sponsors and - in the medium term - to build a new home ground.

No big signings
"But everybody must understand that we are not off the hook yet. We need to be patient and take it one step at a time; AEK remain in debt and cannot afford the luxury of big signings. As for the team, I just want the players to do their best. I will not ask for anything as we're building a new team. If they give 100 per cent, I'll be more than satisfied."

Unbeaten
Nikolaidis was part of the Greece squad that won UEFA EURO 2004™, after which he retired from professional football at the age of 31 to head a consortium that purchased AEK. The club trail Panathinaikos FC by a point in the Alpha Ethninki despite not losing any of their seven games and are also in the UEFA Cup group stage.