Mayor takes Olympiakos’s side

Agrapidis supports soccer team’s plans for Karaiskaki, promises track stadium at nearby site

The mayor of Piraeus, Christos Agrapidis, yesterday sided with the interests of the Olympiakos soccer club on the prospective new look of Karaiskaki Stadium — the historic port’s main stadium located in nearby Neo Faliron and long associated with one of country’s most popular clubs — but claimed that political expediency was not behind the decision, despite upcoming local elections in October.

Olympiakos has proposed financing the reconstruction of the run-down stadium, property of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, but, in opposition to the owner’s demands, has sought to eliminate the arena’s existing running track.

Yesterday, the Piraeus mayor said a new stadium equipped with a running track could be built within Karaiskaki Stadium’s vicinity, without elaborating on the sources of the project’s funds.

“Everybody knows about the bond that ties Piraeus and Olympiakos. Throughout its history, Olympiakos has developed into a leading symbol for the city with sturdy popular foundations and deep roots in the local society,” Agrapidis said. “We musn’t forget that this was achieved at Karaiskaki Stadium, which must be established as Olympiakos’s permanent home ground,” he added.

In recent years, Olympiakos has rented the Athens Olympic Stadium in the capital’s northern suburbs for home-ground commitments, but wants to get back to home territory at Karaiskaki Stadium in the city’s south.

With reconstruction work already under way ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympics, during which Karaiskaki Stadium will be used for the event’s soccer games, Olympiakos recently signed a deal with second-division side Apollon to use its Rizoupoli Stadium in Athens for the new season. Olympiakos, the defending league champion, is currently revamping its temporary Rizoupoli home, and has been granted approval by the local soccer federation to use the ground for domestic competition. The club expects to be given the green light later this summer by UEFA, soccer’s governing body in Europe, to also host its Champions League games there.

Returning to Karaiskaki Stadium, it seems that the president of Olympiakos, Socrates Kokkalis, may finally get his way. Progress at the Neo Faliron stadium has remained stagnant as a result of the dispute between its owner, the Hellenic Olympic Committee, which leases the stadium to Olympiakos, and Kokkalis, over the stadium’s final layout. Kokkalis, who also participates in the consortium selected to do the works, has been dragging his feet in order to have the stadium’s running track scrapped from the refurbishment plans.

While discussing the stadium’s future, the Piraeus mayor pinned his hopes on Olympiakos. “The stadium carries huge reconstruction and maintenance costs. Somebody needs to assume all this,” Agrapidis said. “Otherwise the stadium will continue disintegrating. Since Olympiakos has assumed the task of reconstruction, there is no reason to try and stop this.”