Greek football club owner banned for invading pitch with gun

The owner of Greek club PAOK has been banned for three years
after storming onto the pitch with a holstered gun on his belt,
league organisers said.

PAOK were also docked three points and fined for Ivan Savvidis’
actions at the end of a match against AEK Athens, meaning they drop
to third place in a tight championship race with AEK and
Olympiakos.

The ruling also includes a 100,000-euro ($123,000) fine for
Greek-Russian businessman Savvidis and a separate 63,000-euro fine
for PAOK.

PAOK, based in the northern port of Thessaloniki, said they will
appeal.

Also Thursday, the monitoring committee of global football body
FIFA recommended the immediate suspension of Greece’s football
federation, according to a letter leaked to Greek media.

The Greek league will resume on Saturday after being suspended
on March 12 in the wake of the Savvidis incident. Athens-based AEK
now have a commanding lead at the top with 57 points followed by
Olympiakos with 50 and PAOK with 49 points.

The clubs have agreed to a list of government demands, including
point deductions and automatic relegation for clubs responsible for
violence.

Savvidis, a 58-year-old tobacco industrialist and a former
lawmaker with the party of Russian president Vladimir Putin,
stormed onto the pitch to confront the referee in protest at a
90th-minute disallowed goal in what was then a top-of-the-table
clash against AEK Athens.

His club said: “The penalty is harsh and (was made) under the
pressure of a targeted communication storm against PAOK. We are
appealing and expect to be judged on the basis of actual
facts.”

It said Savvidis had the support of “the entire family of PAOK,
stronger and more determined than ever”.

The Greek Super League docked PAOK three points from this season
and two from next season, and ordered them to play the next three
home matches without spectators.

The league banned the club’s football director Lubos Michel for
three months and fined him 15,000 euros for threatening the referee
in the AEK match.

There was little sympathy for PAOK from their Athens-based
rivals.

“We expected PAOK to be punished and that we would be on the
top. I think we deserve to be at the top as we have played the best
football,” AEK forward Tasos Bakasetas told Nova TV.

Greek football has perennially been plagued by violence and
match-fixing.

The head of a FIFA committee set up last July to monitor the
Greek football federation, Herbert Hubel, recommended in his report
to FIFA’s leadership that Greece, the 2004 European champions, be
excluded from international competition.

Hubel mentioned the pitch invasion by Savvidis, as well as the
suspension of the league, the suspension of PAOK from the European
Club Association and continuous delays in court decisions about
match outcomes.

AFP.

The owner of Greek club PAOK has been banned for three years
after storming onto the pitch with a holstered gun on his belt,
league organisers said.

PAOK were also docked three points and fined for Ivan Savvidis’
actions at the end of a match against AEK Athens, meaning they drop
to third place in a tight championship race with AEK and
Olympiakos.

The ruling also includes a 100,000-euro ($123,000) fine for
Greek-Russian businessman Savvidis and a separate 63,000-euro fine
for PAOK.

PAOK, based in the northern port of Thessaloniki, said they will
appeal.

Also Thursday, the monitoring committee of global football body
FIFA recommended the immediate suspension of Greece’s football
federation, according to a letter leaked to Greek media.

The Greek league will resume on Saturday after being suspended
on March 12 in the wake of the Savvidis incident. Athens-based AEK
now have a commanding lead at the top with 57 points followed by
Olympiakos with 50 and PAOK with 49 points.

The clubs have agreed to a list of government demands, including
point deductions and automatic relegation for clubs responsible for
violence.

Savvidis, a 58-year-old tobacco industrialist and a former
lawmaker with the party of Russian president Vladimir Putin,
stormed onto the pitch to confront the referee in protest at a
90th-minute disallowed goal in what was then a top-of-the-table
clash against AEK Athens.

His club said: “The penalty is harsh and (was made) under the
pressure of a targeted communication storm against PAOK. We are
appealing and expect to be judged on the basis of actual
facts.”

It said Savvidis had the support of “the entire family of PAOK,
stronger and more determined than ever”.

The Greek Super League docked PAOK three points from this season
and two from next season, and ordered them to play the next three
home matches without spectators.

The league banned the club’s football director Lubos Michel for
three months and fined him 15,000 euros for threatening the referee
in the AEK match.

There was little sympathy for PAOK from their Athens-based
rivals.

“We expected PAOK to be punished and that we would be on the
top. I think we deserve to be at the top as we have played the best
football,” AEK forward Tasos Bakasetas told Nova TV.

Greek football has perennially been plagued by violence and
match-fixing.

The head of a FIFA committee set up last July to monitor the
Greek football federation, Herbert Hubel, recommended in his report
to FIFA’s leadership that Greece, the 2004 European champions, be
excluded from international competition.

Hubel mentioned the pitch invasion by Savvidis, as well as the
suspension of the league, the suspension of PAOK from the European
Club Association and continuous delays in court decisions about
match outcomes.

AFP.