For the first time, there were double(home and away) matches in the group stage, thus each team played 10 games.
The first leg in Nikos Goumas Stadium was awarded to Olympiacos 2–0 in an eventful match[1] that was abandoned against AEK Athens and while the scoreline was 1–1 at the time.
In the second leg, at Olympic Stadium, Olympiacos' home ground then, they shattered AEK Athens 6–1.
[2] In the same round, in derby of Thessaloniki between PAOK and Aris, the black and whites were qualified with a 1–1[3] away draw and a 2–0[4] home victory.
Olympiacos with two victories, 1–0 away and 5–4[7] at home (in an impressive game where 10 minutes before the end the scoreline was 3–4), qualified for the final.
Olympiacos faced PAOK, 9 years after their last conflict in a cup final and for a 7th clash in total.
Several days before the game, Olympiacos president Sokratis Kokkalis made a memorable statement using a Greek expression that Olympiacos would lose the upcoming final only if the devil would break his leg (meaning that it was almost impossible to lose).
However, PAOK easily won the match 4–2[9][10] with an impressive performance and earned the trophy 27 years after their last success, in the same stadium against the same opponent.
The manager of PAOK, Dušan Bajević became the first in history to win the trophy with three different teams, as je also won it with AEK Athens in 1996 and Olympiacos in 1999.
In the additional round and the final, which were played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows: The draw took place on 7 December 2000.