More foreign referees promised for Super League playoffs
FIFA and UEFA representatives met with the owners of AEK, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and PAOK in Athens, as it was confirmed that more foreign referees will work over Super League matches.
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This afternoon, at the Grande Bretagne Hotel in the centre of Athens, Dimitris Melissanidis (AEK), Evangelos Marinakis (Olympiacos), Giannis Alafouzos (Panathinaikos) and Ivan Savvidis (PAOK) all held a meeting with FIFA and UEFA officials as scheduled. Lefteris Avgenakis (Deputy Greek Minister of Sport and Culture), Evangelos Grammenos (Hellenic Football Federation president), Zoran Lakovic (UEFA national federations director), Minas Lysandrou (Super League president), Herbert Hubel (FIFA/UEFA representative), Marios Georgiou (UEFA member federations director) and Sefton Perry (UEFA research and analysis director) were also present at the meeting.
The goal of the meeting, which had been requested by FIFA and UEFA, was to bring the leading figures of Greek football together to find solutions to the ongoing problems which are damaging the national game.
“To be clear, the meeting was better than expected,” remarked Hubel when speaking to the press. “It was a good talk. As you know, I’m Austrian and I don’t have your mentality; in my country, people would be offended for years if they spoke in the manner you do here. The good news is that discussions will continue. We agreed that there will be more meetings in cooperation with the Deputy Minister. I can say that there will be more foreign referees for the playoffs.”
There will also be elections in either June or July to choose a president for the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO). The much-criticised Grammenos currently holds the position.
Marinakis, the owner of Olympiacos, heavily criticised Vitor Melo Pereira, demanding that he immediately leaves his job as the head of the EPO refereeing department. During his lengthy statements, Marinakis pointed out that the video assistant referee (VAR) system has been poorly managed, with bad decisions still being made during games. In an angry exchange with Grammenos, Marinakis said that the former ‘should go to prison’ for his activities within the EPO.
AEK supremo, Melissanidis, was critical of FIFA and UEFA, revealing that he believes the two organisations are failing Greek football with their actions. Alafouzos and Savvidis, the owners of Panathinaikos and PAOK respectively, both voiced their desire for foreign referees to continue working in the Super League. There was also clear tension witnessed between Marinakis and Savvidis.
Interestingly, according to Sport FM, after the meeting ended Lakovic admitted to Melissanidis that FIFA has made mistakes. Melissanidis had voiced his anger over the fact that Pereira is still in charge of the EPO’s refereeing department.
The owners of AEK, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and PAOK did not give any statements to the media after the meeting, which lasted four hours, finished.
A date will soon be set for a new meeting.
