Totally 52 teams participated, 16 from Alpha Ethniki, 18 from Beta, and 18 from Gamma. It was held in 6 rounds, included final.
This season, for first time was established qualifying groups in the Group Stage, with Alpha Ethniki teams to be placed in the first pot. The groups would be supplemented by teams of lower divisions and the qualification would be gained by the two winners of each group. The inspiration for this process was taken by Coppa Italia and its main objective was the teams to play certain official matches before the beginning of European championships and Cups.
With various forms, the initial round of groups took place globally in 11 editions, until 2001-02 season. The unique Alpha Ethniki team that was eliminated this year by the round was Doxa Drama.
Afterwards, the competition was marked by eventful matches and false note, initially in Second Round and afterwards the elimination of Olympiacos by OFI and AEK Athens by Levadiakos, but mainly in the quarter-finals, when OFI were eliminated by Larissa, while after the end of second match there were clashes in the ground by footballers of both teams. Riots of lower intensity became after the end of match between Panionios and PAOK, in the same round.
Final was contested by Panathinaikos and Panionios. The two clubs were met again in a Greek Cup Final after 32 years. Panathinaikos, after Group Stage of groups, eliminated Olympiakos Volos, Panachaiki, PAS Giannina and Ethnikos Piraeus, while Panionios eliminated Sparti, Aris, PAOK and AEL. The Greens repeated the success of 1967, overcoming this time 3–1.[1][2] For a second consecutive year, Dimitris Saravakos was the first scorer of the competition, with 7 goals.
Calendar[]
Round
Date(s)
Fixtures
Clubs
New entries
Group stage
21, 28 August 1988
36
52 → 32
52
Round of 32
30 November 1988, 14 December 1988
32
32 → 16
none
Round of 16
1989
16
16 → 8
none
Quarter-finals
1, 15 February 1989
8
8 → 4
none
Semi-finals
22 March, 12 April 1989
4
4 → 2
none
Final
11 May 1989
1
2 → 1
none
Group stage[]
The phase was played in a single round-robin format. Each win would gain 2 points, each draw 1 and each loss would not gain any point.