Greek league suspended after gun storm

GREECE’S top-flight football championship was suspended indefinitely on Monday, a minister said, hours after the owner of the PAOK team invaded the pitch with a gun strapped to his belt.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he was “determined” to enforce order in the country’s often chaotic leading sport, which has repeatedly been marred by violence on and off the pitch.

“We must all decide to ignore the political cost . . . It’s a question of will. Personally, I am determined to go ahead,” Tsipras said ahead of a meeting with a rival party leader.

Hi s deput y mi n i ster for sport, Yiorgos Vassiliadis, had earlier told reporters af ter an emer genc y meet i ng w it h Tsipras t hat t he Superleague would “not start again without a new framework agreed by a l l”.

Vassiliadis said the government was in close contact with European football body UEFA, which he said had been “shocked” by the incident.

Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of PAOK owner, Greek-Russian businessman Ivan Savvidis, after he stormed the pitch on Sunday, accompanied by bodyguards, to confront the referee in protest at a 90th-minute disallowed goal in a top-of-the-table clash against AEK Athens.

PAOK sports director Lubos Michel, a Slovak former FIFA referee, is also believed to have threatened referee Yiorgos Kominis.

The match was interrupted as AEK’s squad walked off the pitch. The goal was later allowed.

Vassiliadis said the government had “fought to clean up” Greek football for three years “and would not allow all this effort to be threatened”.

“We await proposals from the federation and the league,” he said. “A tougher framework is needed.”

He did not rule out the prospect of Greek clubs sitting out n e x t s e a s o n’s E u r o p e a n matches, but i nsi ste d t he nationa l team would not be af fected.

PAOK and AEK are in a neckand-neck race for the league title, which would be their first in over 24 years.

Oly mpia kos have won t he la st seven cha mpionsh ips under the ownership of Greek sh ipow ner Va ngel i s Ma r ina k is, who, l i ke Sav v id is, is one of Greece’s most prominent businessmen.

The league suspension is the latest stopgap measure adopted by the Tsipras government to maintain order in a championship that is spiralling out of control.

Less then a month ago, fans of the four most popular clubs – AEK, PAOK, Olympiakos and Panathinaikos – were banned from away games after recurring violence.