Iraklis sent to the fourth division
Iraklis has dropped three divisions over the course of just one summer as on Monday it failed to secure an injunction against the continuation of the Super League and will likely find itself stuck in the fourth division this season.
The Thessaloniki Blues were originally found guilty of forging a tax document, which meant their relegation to the second division. Then they decided to reverse that decision by resorting to a civic court, for which the federation relegated them to the third division.
Now Iraklis has in effect lost its appeal to reverse those verdicts and has also missed the deadline for submitting a license application to the Professional Sports Commission, which means it will have to play in the first nonprofessional division, that is the Regional Championship, or the fourth tier of Greek soccer.
However, reports suggest that Iraklis does not intend to play in the amateur divisions and its officials are considering a merger with second-division club Anagennisi Epanomis.
Iraklis, one of the oldest soccer clubs in Greece, was founded in 1908, at a time when Thessaloniki was still under Ottoman rule.
It is the oldest and third most popular club in Greece’s second largest city, and has also won one Greek Cup, in 1976. It was one of the founding members of the Greek first division in 1959.
