March 29 -The Greek Superleague will resume play this weekend after government on lifted its suspension following the pitch incursion by a gun-carrying PAOK club president Ivan Savvidis.
Savvidis entered the field of play with a holstered gun visible on his belt, to complain over a disallowed goal charged in the a key match against top of the table rivals AEK Athens.
His actions sparked a chain of events that once against dragged Greek football into public scrutiny and international infamy for all the wrong reasons.
Once again the distrust and divisions within Greek football were dragged into global view. Greek football was already reeling from matchfixing allegations and a widespread belief that, even this season with FIFA and UEFA trying to gain some form of control and balance, match officials are manipulating games.
Greece’s Deputy Culture and Sports Minister Georgios Vassiliadis took the decision to restart the league after Superleague clubs unanimously (eventually) accepted changes to the league’s disciplinary code and submitted proposals for improving the country’s top soccer division.
The league had missed one round of fixtures. Last weekend was the international break.
“The Deputy Minister for Culture and Sport….has decided to immediately lift the suspension of the Superleague championship as well as the Greek Cup,” the ministry said in a statement.
So far no sanction has been handed down to Savvidis – a Russian Oligarch who is close to the Greek government and the Kremlin – or PAOK.
He game against AEK was abandoned after Savvidis entered the pitch with it later being awarded to PAOK 1-0. Some form of sanction should be expected for Savvidis and PAOK, though their severity will likely reflect the whoever has the prevailing political wind in Greece at the moment.
AEK are top of the league, two points ahead of PAOK who have a game in hand. A points deduction could cost PAOK the league.
No sanction would suggest forces other than play on the field are dictating the course of the championship.
FIFA and UEFA have a role to play but doubts locally are that they do not have the appetite or independence to solve the situation. Certainly they have failed miserably to date, despite a normalisation committee having been installed to run the Greek FA before handing the administration back to the Greeks.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1714040145labto1714040145ofdlr1714040145owedi1714040145sni@n1714040145osloh1714040145cin.l1714040145uap1714040145