By Mark Baber
September 18- The start of the second division of Greece’s Football League is being postponed indefinitely due to the financial difficulties faced by most of the clubs involved, it was on Wednesday.
The news came in a statement by the league which said:
“The board of directors of the Football League decided to postpone the start of the championship indefinitely because of serious economic and institutional problems,”
The league has asked for a meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, leaders of other political parties, the Greek football federation and the first division Super League “asking them to intervene to resolve these issues.”
Clubs have been hit hard by the decision of the Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics (OPAP), which has a monopoly on lottery and sports betting in Greece, to cut its funding of the league by 30 percent.
OPAP is itself under investigation regarding money laundering, but the postponement of the second division comes as the company has confirmed it will continue its partnership with Panathinaikos for the 2014-15 season.
Whilst Olympiakos humbled Atletico Madrid with a hard-fought 3-2 victory in the Champions League, Greece’s lower league teams face an even tougher fight, just to survive.