November 25 – Top-flight games in Greece will resume this weekend after the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) announced it was lifting the suspension imposed in the wake of a leading official being violently attacked.
The move followed the election of a new Super League chief, Giorgos Borovilos, president of Asteras Tripolis, after he secured 13 votes out of the 16 teams in the league and then gave written assurances that fresh efforts would be taken to stamp out violence.
“Although EPO is not fully satisfied with the content of the letter that shows and illustrates the very large operational problems of the league, it believes that it is a step in the right direction,” the federation said in a statement.
“For that reason we will appoint referees so that the national competitions can continue and be completed smoothly.”
No matches were played last weekend after the EPO announced it would not appoint any referees as a result of 45-year-old Christoforos Zografos, the assistant director of the Central Refereeing Committee (KED), being severely beaten with wooden clubs by two men in the Kolonosarea of Western Athens in what was described as a “murderous attack”.
Matches scheduled for this weekend will now go ahead as planned with the games that were not played last weekend to be rescheduled for January 10-11.
Zografos, a former FIFA referee, worked under retired Scottish official Hugh Dallas, who stepped down as head of Greece’s referees department following the attack on his colleague.
Matches have already been suspended this season by the government in late September as a mark of respect following the death of a fan after violent clashes at a third division match.
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