By Matt Scott
April 29 – Gianni Infantino has hit back at accusations in Greece that UEFA has sat idly by while corruption at the heart of the Hellenic Football Federation destroys the game from within.
The UEFA general secretary, in a move supported by FIFA, has threatened to suspend all Greek teams from international competitions. A final ultimatum was issued last week in response to the Syriza government’s attempt to force reform at the HFF.
But he has made clear this threat was issued only after an effort at cooperative reshaping of the Greek national association.
“We offered our support and our help to the HFF and the Greek government, and met Deputy Sports Minister, Stavros Kontonis, submitting proposals on how they could proceed to address these issues,” Infantino told the Greek sports daily, Gazetta.gr in an exclusive interview.
“We are very disappointed that these recommendations have been completely ignored and by the fact that the Greek Government proceeded with its plan to introduce legislation is unacceptable, since it is a clear governmental intervention to the organizational autonomy of football. We don’t doubt the intentions of Mr. Kontonis, but we question the way in which he and his government have proceeded.”
Infantino explained that the football authorities have no alternative under football’s statutes than to demand what Greek media are terming an enforced ‘Grexit’, echoing the threat of Greece’s expulsion from the Eurozone.
“Unfortunately there will be no choice but to exclude the Greek Football Federation if this new legislation passes because football does not allow governmental intervention,” he added to Gazetta’s Vassilis Sambrakos.
“There are currently three other countries outside Europe facing similar issues, Indonesia, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Do not forget that this expulsion will not affect only the national team. If your clubs do not participate in competitions, it will reduce their ranking, and this will mean that fewer teams can qualify for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
“I think that the Greek Government needs to understand what is at stake here. We hope that the final warning letter, co-signed by FIFA, which was sent today will make them reconsider their moves in order to work together to solve the issues affecting Greek football.”
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