Stage set for Last 16 in Greek Cup
The stage is set for the last 16 of the Greek Cup after the completion of the fifth round.
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The fifth round of the Greek Cup concluded on Thursday with Panathinaikos, Lamia, and Volos punching the final tickets to the last 16 of the competition. Earlier in the week, Panetolikos, Trikala, OFI, Asteras Tripolis, Xanthi, Panionios, Kalamata, and PAS Giannina also progressed to the sixth round.
With the new format, the likes of PAOK, Olympiacos, AEK, Atromtios, and Aris received a bye to the sixth round of the competition - due to their top-five finish in last year's Super League. This change took effect in the offseason to offload these clubs’ fall/winter schedule due to their European obligations, despite only Olympiacos qualifying for a European group stage.
These five teams will join the 11 teams from the fifth round to make up the field of 16 in the 2019/20 Greek Cup.
A total of 13 teams from the Super League will participate in the Last 16 while PAS Giannina are the sole representative from the Super League 2. Surprisingly, two teams from the Football League, Kalamata and Trikala, are still alive in the competition.
The draw for the Last 16 will take place in the near future and the 16 teams will be separated into eight seeded teams and eight unseeded teams based on last year’s league ranking. The seedings are below.
Seeded Clubs
PAOK
Olympiacos
AEK
Atromitos
Aris
Panionios
Lamia
Panathinaikos
Unseeded Clubs
Panetolikos
Asteras Tripolis
Xanthi
OFI
Volos
PAS Giannina
Trikala
Kalamata
The Last 16 will be played over two legs with the first leg scheduled for January 7-9 and the second leg one week later.
