Sunday 8th February 1981 was a bright, sunny day, just like any other day for the football supporters of OLYMPIACOS F.C. Match Day 20, and the Reds were hosting a game against AEK, who were two points behind in the championship table.
The stadium was packed and all tickets had sold out. Everyone was in a good mood, chanting, and nothing could suggest the tragic events that were to follow. Kick off was at 15.15 and OLYMPIACOS F.C. started off with the following players: Sarganis, Kirastas, Vamvakoulas, Papadopoulos, Novoselac, Kousoulakis, Persias, Nikoloudis, Anastopoulos, Orfanos and Galakos.
32 years later, today, it feels like not a day has gone by. Everyone still remembers both this tragedy and the 21 victims, and every February 8th we mourn for their loss. In the name of those people there is a monument outside the new “George Karaiskakis” stadium and amongst the seats in gate 7, there are 21 black chairs which belong to those who are no longer among us.
Hear the requiem hymn
Panagiotis Toumanidis, 14 years old
Kostas Sklavounis, 16 years old
Ilias Panagoulis, 17 years old
Gerasimos Amitsis, 18 years old (AEK supporter)
Yiannis Kanellopoulos, 18 years old
Spiros Leonidakis, 18 years old
Yiannis Spiliopoulos, 19 years old
Nikos Filos, 19 years old
Yiannis Dialinas, 20 years old
Vassilis Mahas, 20 years old
Efstratios Loupos, 20 years old
Michalis Kostopoulos, 21 years old
Zografoula Hairatidou, 23 years old
Spiros Andriotis, 24 years old
Kostas Karanikolas, 26 years old
Michalis Markou, 27 years old
Kostas Bilas, 28 years old
Anastassios Pitsolis, 30 year old
Antonis Kouroupakls, 34 years old
Christos Hatzigeorgiou, 34 years old
Dimitris Adamopoulos, 40 years old
On the other side AEK lined up with Economopoulos, Ardizoglou, Manolas, Karavitis, Paraprastanitis, Thodis, Vlahos, Eleftherakis, Kottis, Bajevic and Mavros.
The game turned out to be a win for OLYMPIACOS F.C., who beat AEK 6-0: three goals by Galakos (30’, 53’, 84’), one by Koussoulakis (68’), one by Orfanos (75’) and one by Vamvakoulas (80’). The crowd was more than excited. Filled with enthusiasm, the fans who were located at the stadium’s Gate 7 tried to rush out in order to reach Gate 1 and cheer the triumphant team. Then disaster struck.
The exit door was locked, or according to other testimonies, slightly open and there were too many fans. One of the fans, who were running cheerfully towards the exit door, tripped and fell on the steps. Dozens of people fell onto each other and were trampled by the waves of fans who kept coming, completely unaware that anything was wrong. As a result, twenty one people who attended the game -just to enjoy their beloved team- died that day and many more were injured.
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