By Matt Scott
April 30 – Greek football has been apparently spared expulsion from all international competitions after a last-ditch trip to Athens by UEFA’s general secretary, Gianni Infantino on Wednesday.
The so-called Grexit seemed inevitable after UEFA and FIFA jointly signed a letter threatening to ban all Greek club and national teams from their competitions over governmental interference.
Since coming to power the Syriza government has made the reform of the Hellenic Football Federation its most urgent priority in sport. But the football authorities objected to its legislative methods.
However, crisis seems to have been averted during top-level discussions yesterday between officials on all sides. It has emerged that Infantino received a formal briefing on the full extent of the corruption scandal in Greece.
The tally of officials and staff from the HFF and Greek Super League clubs who face the prosecutor’s accusations of criminal activity has now reached an astonishing 26 individuals. Given this backdrop, the UEFA general secretary is understood to have conceded that efforts must be made to reform HFF structures.
The government made clear it has no intention of direct oversight of Greek football, a red line for UEFA and FIFA. What it will be permitted to do, though, is repeal the relevant article of a 2006 law that had given complete autonomy to the HFF to govern itself, effectively without the intervention of national laws. Further discussions will be held before the exact limitations to be placed on the HFF take shape prior to the new bill going before parliament.
The deputy sports minister during the Cultural Affairs Committee session on Tuesday (28/4) according to which: “Football issues and the organisation of the HFF will be regulated by the HFF under a self-governing operation.
“[But this will now be] in accordance with statutes and regulations that are harmonised with the [Greek] Constitution, current legislation and the regulations of the global and European federations of which [the HFF] is a member. And with whom I will discuss and set exactly these limits of Constitutional order.”
At the meeting, held at the Greek ministry of sports, were UEFA’s Infantino, the deputy sports minister, Stavros Kontonis (pictured), the general secretary of sports, July Synadinos, the HFF chairman, George Gkiritzikis, Patrick Komninos as well as a cross-party delegation of politicians. The far-right party Golden Dawn was not, however, represented.
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