Super League derby being probed
The list of matches suspected for fixing has grown longer after the judicial authorities? investigation, according to the prosecutor?s report, including the Super League decider this season between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos.
UEFA had forwarded to the Greek federation a list of 41 matches from 2008-2009 to this season, but the prosecutor has now added another 13 games for the time being, according to reports on June 25.
Evidence from the investigation has pointed to Olympiakos beating Panathinaikos 2-1 on February 19 with the referee allegedly having agreed in advance to help the Reds.
The new list includes among others the games between Olympiakos Volou and Kerkyra and between Kavala and Panserraikos for the Super League, as well as several games from the second division, and even a fourth-division match between Apollon Kalamarias and Achilleas Triandrias.
Panos Bitsaxis, the General Secretary for Sports, stated that Vangelis Marinakis, the president of Olympiakos had better resign from the chair of the Super League. He also said that it is possible that the new league championship will not start.
Reports note that a growing number of clubs are planning a no-confidence motion against Marinakis for the Super League meeting of June 28, while a radio report suggested Marinakis might actually resort to resigning beforehand.
One of the men accused of leading the match-fixing rings, Achilleas Beos, told a radio station on June 25 that the whole affair is a set-up, organized by former Panathinaikos president Nikolas Pateras and Panachaiki president and prominent lawyer Alexis Kougias.
?Pateras and Kougias were the informers. They are like those who wore a hood during the German occupation in the 1940s,? the Olympiakos Volou strongman stated, asking the fans in Volos not to stage rallies in his support but close ranks to help their team instead.
Separately, London-based lawyer Grigoris Ioannidis who defends Iraklis in its case against the Greek federation at CAS, the world?s supreme sports tribunal, said on June 25 that he has been receiving bribe offers and threats in order to withdraw Iraklis?s case from CAS.
