March 12 – Greek football has been plunged into yet more disgrace after a cup quarterfinal between league leaders Olympiakos and second division AEK was abandoned after a last-minute Olympiakos goal sparked crowd violence.
A group of around 20 AEK fans ran on to the pitch and hurled objects at players and police moments after their team went 1-0 down in the second leg of the tie.
The Olympiakos players immediately left the pitch and were soon followed by the match officials and AEK players as police moved in to restore order.
Just over 30 minutes later officials announced that the game would not resume and Olympiakos will progress to the semi-finals automatically.
The trouble was the last thing Greek football or the government needed in its attempt to crack down on fan violence. The Greek Super League resumed only last weekend, with matches played behind closed doors, following a one-week suspension due to persistent crowd trouble and an embarrassing brawl at a Super League board meeting of club bosses.
This was the first high-profile game to be watched by fans since then and a capacity crowd of 65,000 packed into the stadium for the Athens derby.
AEK, who lead Greece’s second division, now face the threat of a heavy fine and a three-point deduction. “Greek football has reached the bottom,” said AEK president Dimitris Melissanidis.
Greece’s recently-elected Syriza ruling party has said it is determined to stamp out football crowd violence. Greece’s top flight has been suspended three times this season already.
Shortly after the latest incident, Deputy Sports Minister Stavros Kontonis, who was in the stadium but left five minutes from time, issued a statement announcing that this weekend’s Super League matches will again be played behind closed doors.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734918164labto1734918164ofdlr1734918164owedi1734918164sni@w1734918164ahsra1734918164w.wer1734918164dna1734918164