Platini’s Greek problem
ThOSe so keen to install Michel Platini as the next president of FIFA may wish to consider standards of governance at UeFA before celebrating his impending succession. It would appear Angela Merkel is not the only leader with a Greek problem. UeFA’s deputy general secretary is Theodore Theodoridis, a long-standing board member of the hellenic Football Federation and a UeFA employee since 2008. his father, Savvas Theodoridis, is vice-president of Olympiacos, who have won all bar two editions of the Greek championship since 1996. There may be a reason for this, however, as the club’s chairman, Vangelis Marinakis, is under investigation over allegations that he bribed and influenced match officials, league officials and disciplinary panel judges. One of the accusations concerns the bombing of a bakery owned by a high-profile referee. Marinakis has already been acquitted by one investigation, but another is ongoing, and he is on strict bail terms, reporting to police every 15 days. he was banned from football activities in June, although club ownership is somehow permitted. Despite this scandal, there is no sign of Olympiacos’s participation in the Champions League coming under threat. When allegations of corruption dogged Fenerbahce, UeFA similarly did not act until domestic inquiries had been completed — but they did warn the Turkish federation that there could be severe consequences if they did not voluntarily withdraw the club from competition. Fenerbahce served a one-year suspension from europe, while investigations continued, before UeFA added their own punishment. That order came from Gianni Infantino, UeFA general secretary and, as such, Theodoridis’s boss. Strangely, Infantino has made no similar demands of the hellenic Football Federation over Olympiacos. Still, the Football Association are among those who have already happily pledged their support for Platini (left) as football’s honest broker, so no doubt they are satisfied with the impeccable and consistent conduct of
his UeFA regime.