True to the April Fools’ Day tradition, Neos Kosmos published a news item on Saturday ‘revealing’ that the Greek Cup final was going to be held in Melbourne.
Some of our readers realised it was an April Fools’ joke but it turns out our story could well become a reality.
Greek Community of Melbourne president, Bill Papastergiadis, is actively working towards this direction having sent a new letter to the president of the Hellenic Football Federation, Takis Baltakos, in which he writes:
“Dear Mr. Baltakos,
In our letter of 14 February 2023 we proposed to you to host the 2023 Greek Cup Final in Melbourne. We proceeded with this proposal after being informed that the Greek Football Federation is considering hosting the Final abroad.
As you know, the city of Melbourne is one of the largest sports capitals of the world, home to the largest population of Greeks outside Greece. Over 35 Greek football clubs operate in our city and the Greek Community of Melbourne recently organised the Greek Football Tournament where the majority of these teams participated.
Given that there is a great interest in football in Australia, and with strong supporters of the Greek teams, we believe that holding the Greek Cup Final in Melbourne will be a great success.
At the same time, it will be an important milestone in the promotion of Greek football and football in general in Australia, strengthening both the sport and our country in many ways. We would greatly appreciate it if you could let us know your thoughts on our proposal, so that we can promote the event towards the relevant Australian government departments, seeking their cooperation.
Yours sincerely,
Vassilis Papastergiadis, President.”
It is worth mentioning that it is not yet known which teams will compete in the final. The most likely combination is AEK vs PAOK. If Olympiacos manages to beat AEK by more than three goals in the replay (they lost 3-0 in the first game) then they will qualify for the final.
