Greek Superleague suspension to remain in place until at least next week
Friday 23 March 2018 19:36, UK
The suspension of the Greek Superleague will not be lifted until next week at the earliest, Sky Sports News understands.
Its clubs were due to vote on Friday in an attempt to agree rule changes as they sought to resume their ongoing season, which was suspended last week after PAOK owner Ivan Savvidis carried a gun onto the pitch during his side's game against AEK Athens.
One of Greece's biggest clubs - Olympiakos - are holding up the process as they have refused to agree to the conditions set by the Greek government, according to Greece's deputy sports minister Giorgos Vasileiadis.
"Olympiakos are motivated by political issues rather than sport issues. It seems they want to keep on with the problem," he told Sky Sports News. "I want a truce up to the end of the season and then to create new rules."
The 16 Superleague clubs have called their own meeting for Monday, before which it is extremely unlikely that they will all agree to the measures. This means Friday's voting deadline will be missed.
There are four points clubs have been asked to agree on, including clear sanctions if a team is found guilty of violence at a match - whether by fans, staff or players.
These sanctions would become stricter for repeat offences throughout the season, starting with a fine in the first instance before second or third offences including points deductions or, most severely, relegation. Olympiakos are against this point in particular.
The second matter teams have been asked to agree on regards a potential ban on clubs or club officials making detrimental public statements about football issues, threats or allegations of corruption, such as criticism of referees. This includes on social media.
Point three would see an increase in stadium security on match day, with police outside and clubs responsible for security and safety inside.
The fourth point is in regards to the restructuring of the judicial in sport, which would include acceptance of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the process as a point of appeal. Currently, there is a Greek court of arbitration.
PAOK have responded and signed up to the changes, but on the form to do so Savvidis wrote: "you are fooled if you think that these terms add greater credibility to the league".
