Greek government gives green light for FIFA to run Greek federation

Athens (AFP) – The Greek government Thursday gave legal backing to world governing body FIFA to run the daily affairs of the country’s crisis-hit soccer federation (EPO).

Deputy Sports Minister Stavros Kontonis submitted in parliament the necessary amendment which puts an official end to months of bickering between the federation and the Greek government over discrepancies between national laws and the independence of the federation.

Last month FIFA appointed a normalisation committee to run EPO and to revise the relevant regulations to bring them into line with FIFA standards.

“Today we give legal operation to the committee to put a full stop to a rotting regime and corruption prevailing in Greek soccer,” Kontonis told parliament members.

He added: “Corruption has been endemic for years in soccer and had backing of high political patrons who stated they can not do anything with the agreements signed by the Greek state. We managed within 20 months to put an end to this lawless scheme that produced these pathologies.”

The FIFA-appointed committee will also look into allegations linked to refereeing, difficulties surrounding the management of ethics cases as well as organise fresh Greek soccer federation elections by May 31 next year.