Soccer team relocates to new ground
Soccer champion Olympiakos signed a deal with second division club Apollon yesterday to use the latter’s stadium as its home field for domestic competition – Greek league and Cup – in the new season. The Piraeus side used the Olympic Stadium as its home last season, but renovation work being conducted ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympics forced Olympiakos to search elsewhere. The deal does not cover Olympiakos’s European commitments in the Champions League. A decision on where the team will host these games is expected after club President Socrates Kokkalis returns from a trip to the USA later this week. At this point, Olympiakos is believed to be considering using Apollon’s Rizoupolis Stadium or Nicosia Stadium in Cyprus for its European games. The contract with Apollon includes a clause for ground improvement work, such as additional floodlights, refurbished dressing rooms and press boxes, as well as a new press center. After retiring from AEK as a player, Bajevic took over as coach and led the team to four titles between 1988 and 1994. He then left under vague circumstances – Bajevic told last week’s press conference that he should have been more candid – for Olympiakos to win three consecutive titles between 1997 and 1999 before moving to PAOK.
