Bajevic officially returns to AEK Athens

ATHENS, Greece  Dusan Bajevic officially returned to coach AEK Athens on Thursday after a six-year absence.

"AEK and Dusan Bajevic are together again," AEK's chairman Makis Psomiadis told reporters as he presented the first division club's new coach.

Bajevic and Psomiadis agreed two weeks ago for the Bosnian coach to return to AEK's helm. He replaces Portugal's coach Fernando Santos, who did not renew his one-year contract with the Athens club.

Bajevic had spent 12 years with AEK four as a player and eight as coach clinching three consecutive league titles while at the club's helm.

He returned to AEK despite criticism from some of the club's fans, who saw Bajevic's departure in 1996 to archrival Olympiakos Piraeus as "treason."

"The return of the traitor signals the start of our struggle to keep AEK's flag aloft," said an announcement by the "Originals," an AEK supporters club.

Bajevic had remained with Olympiakos for four seasons, winning four consecutive league titles before moving to PAOK Thessaloniki in 1999.

"I want to apologize if my decision to leave AEK ... bothered some people," Bajevic told reporters.

He has now signed a three-year contract with the Athens club. The contract's financial details were not made public, but media reports said he will have an annual income of about 500,000 dlrs (650,000 euros).

Psomiadis on Thursday also ruled out the possibility of AEK's star striker Demis Nikolaidis being sold to any European club, "irrespective of the amount of money they offer."

Several European soccer clubs have reportedly expressed interest in acquiring the international striker, whose contract with AEK expires next year.

Nikolaidis' inclusion in AEK's roster was one of Bajevic's conditions for him to return to the Athens club.

AEK finished second in last season's Greek soccer league and will play in the August qualifying games for the Champions League.

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