The Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) has settled its differences with the Hellenic Government over a controversial new sports law and will avoid any potential intervention from FIFA, EPO president Sofoklis Pilavios said last week.
Relations between EPO and the state were severely strained over the bill, which was introduced last month in an attempt to tackle violence and financial problems around football in Greece.
Speaking to reporters in Athens, Pilavios said “We had a good discussion and we found a solution that satisfies both parties without requiring intervention by FIFA.”
“The subject of self-governance is something agreed between ourselves and the state. The EPO will impose penalties from now on, this is our responsibility,” added the head of the governing body of football in Greece. FIFA, the world’s governing body of the sport, recently asked the EPO to provide assurances that the new state legislation, which gives more power to the state-run Professional Sports Commission (EEA) to impose penalties on clubs, would not contradict its statutes on self-governance.
In effect it has now been agreed that the EEA will have the first and last say on the issuing of licenses for teams, while EPO will be responsible for imposing relevant disciplinary penalties if the documentation of a team is not complete. “I do not know if there was ever actually a point whereby FIFA would have intervened,” said the General Secretary for Sport Panos Bitsaxis.
“After a long debate we have reached definitive conclusions and the EPO has presented us with a satisfactory system of penalties. We all want a professional sport in terms of legitimacy and to move away from unsavoury phenomena afflicting the whole of the profession.”