-- All Domestic Football Competitions Postponed Until Further Notice... --
FIFA and UEFA have suspended all domestic football competitions in Greece after the house of Georgios Bikas, the Head of the Central Refereeing Committee (K.E.D.), was attacked early Wednesday. The decision affects ALL competitions in Greece including the Greek Superleague, Football League, Gamma Ethniki, Greek Cup, and others.
Early Wednesday, Georgios Bikas was at the Federation’s offices to appoint the referees for this weekend's action in the Football League and Gamma Ethniki, when he was informed that his summer-home in Chalkidiki was attacked. The home was set on fire along with 2-3 other neighboring houses.
Fortunately, Bikas’ wife was not present during the attack and was safely in Thessaloniki visiting their son. After the incident, Bikas stated that he would resign from his position saying “What else can I do? I can’t...That is it. I am done with football. I want to sleep peacefully at night.” He went on to say “Thankfully my wife had left from that house a few hours before to go visit our son in Thessaloniki. She could have been inside, she could have been burned alive!” Wednesday’s incident comes after last week's attack on Giannis Tsaheilidis’ house, who is another member of the Central Refereeing Committee. The two incidents are likely to be linked and it is unknown who is responsible for the attacks.
Right after the incident, FIFA and UEFA imposed a suspension on all domestic Greek Football competitions, which includes the Superleague, Football League, Gamma Ethniki, Greek Cup, and others. The decision was supported by both the temporary administration of the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) and the new Deputy Minister of Athletics Giorgios Vasileiadis. It is unknown when the competitions will be resumed. There are no games scheduled this weekend in the Superleague due to the international break, however there are games scheduled for the Football league over the weekend.
The postponement of all Football in Greece once again brings up scenarios of a Grexit in international football, which would affect not only the club teams but also the Greek National Team. To put it simply, a Grexit in football would result in the disqualification (inability to partake) of any Greek team, club or national, competing in any international competitions such as the UEFA Champions/Europa Leagues or in the case of the National Team, World Cup qualifying.
