Totally 56 teams participated, 18 from Alpha Ethniki, 18 from Beta, and 20 from Gamma. It was held in 6 rounds, included final. An additional round was held between first and second, with 4 matches, in order that the teams would continue to be 16.
This year came back the Group stage, after its provisional three-year suppression. Until quarter-finals, all matches were single. The most interesting round was Second, after drawing of Olympiacos against PAOK and Aris against Panathinaikos, with the home teams to take the qualification with difficulty.
Final was contested by AEK Athens, who previously eliminated rivals Olympiacos and Ionikos, for their first and only time in history, having favourable draws in their course to the Final, but also after a very difficult qualification from the Group stage in the goals difference, after triple equivalence in standings with Leonidio and Panetolikos. However, the win with score 8–0 against Nafpaktiakos Asteras in quarter-finals was remarkable.
AEK Athens easily won the game 3-0[1] and earned their 12th cup in club's history. A remarkable moment of the Final was at 32th minute while score was 0-0, after a cross from Petkov, Demis Nikolaidis scored with his hand. The referee Douros did not realize the violation of Nikolaidis and ran towards the center of the field, with Nikolaidis immediately showing him that he should not count the goal. The referee approached Nikolaidis, who explained to him exactly what happened. As a result, the referee changed his decision, canceled the goal and gave handball and showed Nikolaidis a yellow card for his violation. Nikolaidis was later honored by the International Olympic Committee for his fair play towards the referee of the final.[2]
Calendar[]
Round
Date(s)
Fixtures
Clubs
New entries
Group stage
7, 21, 29 August & 13, 27 October 1999
135
56 → 20
54
Additional Round
1999
4
20 → 16
2
Round of 16
12 January 2000
8
16 → 8
none
Quarter-finals
9, 10, 16, 17 February & 1, 2, 8, 9 March 2000
8
8 → 4
none
Semi-finals
5, 12, 19 April 2000
4
4 → 2
none
Final
10 May 2000
1
2 → 1
none
Group stage[]
The phase was played in a single round-robin format. Each win gained 3 points, each draw gained 1 point, and each loss did not gain any points.