The English Premier League is to further investigate Evangelos Marinakis, the owner of newly promoted Premier League side Nottingham Forest (and of Greek champions Olympiakos), over match-fixing claims made against him in 2016.
The Daily Mail has reported that the Premier League was to launch a more in-depth investigation than the owners’ and directors’ test carried out by the English Football League (EFL) when in 2017 it allowed the Greek shipping magnate to buy then championship side Nottingham Forest from previous owner Fawaz al-Hasawi for £50 million after more than a year of negotiations.
The newspaper said the investigation was aimed at heading off the possibility of an independent regulator looking into the match-fixing allegations that were levelled against Marinakis in Greece in 2016.
In 2019, Greek authorities charged Marinakis on match-fixing charges and being involved with criminal gangs. He was acquitted in the Court of Appeal two years later.
European football organisation UEFA investigated the match-fixing claims but levelled no charges against Marinakis.
The newspaper reported that the Premier League first voiced concerns to the EFL after Nottingham Forest qualified for the Championship play-offs which led to its promotion into the Premier League after Forest beat Huddersfield Town at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, 29 May.
While Marinakis appears not to be in breach of the Premier League’s conditions for disqualification, its legal team is seeking to establish whether the Greek owner was involved in acts that could have drawn a conviction in the UK. Actions that can lead to disqualification include unspent criminal convictions (criminal records that have not reached a defined period under the UK’s Rehabilitation of Offenders Act of 1974 and appear on a Basic Criminal Record Check), being disqualified as football club director, or being the subject of an insolvency case.
While Nottingham Forest will not lose its promotion status, provisions under the owner’s test allow time for a disqualified shareholder to sell his or her stake in the club. The test is applied before the takeover of a club or after it wins promotion.
Meanwhile, in a tweet following Nottingham Forest’s success on Sunday, Miltiadis Marinakis, the owner’s son said he was “speechless” over the team’s promotion.
“8 games into the season without a single win, following the worst start in the club’s history, to the biggest achievement. We wanted this more than anything and bringing this magical club back to where it belongs is exactly what you deserve.” wrote Miltiadis Marinakis.
He thanked the coach Steve Cooper and the coaching staff and the club’s Director of Football Kyriakos Dourekas. He also thanked his father “who did everything possible to make this massive success occur.”