Asteras could still stay up after all
Asteras Tripolis could still retain its Super League status as Iraklis was officially relegated to the second division on May 19, for the second time in the same month.
After the federation’s decision to deny the Thessaloniki club a license to play in the top flight 15 days earlier, the Super League found it guilty of forging tax documents and placed Iraklis at the bottom of the table for the 2010-11 season.
Iraklis has the right to appeal, but it appears unlikely the decision will be overturned and the club has already expended a great deal of energy trying to reverse the federation’s decision concerning its financial irregularities.
As a result, Asteras Tripolis stands to benefit as it was the team to finish 14th in the league’s regular season, so since the Super League table has not yet been ratified it could now finish 13th and escape the drop to the Football League.
That would mean that the fourth team in this season’s Football League will not get promoted after all, as had emerged from the original decision regarding Iraklis’s licensing.
The May 19 decision by the disciplinary committee of the Super League was based on the fact that Iraklis used forged documents to secure tax clearance in order to sign six players in the January transfer window. Now all these transfers have been annulled and Iraklis will also have to pay a 50,000-euro fine.
