The Greek government has postponed a high-stakes basketball match between fierce rivals Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, following an on-court altercation between team owners during a previous game.
Scheduled for Wednesday, June 4, the third fixture in a potential five-game finals series has been called off after tensions flared between Olympiacos owners Panagiotis and George Aggelopoulos, and Panathinaikos owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos. The dispute reportedly stemmed from obscene gestures and abusive chants by fans.
Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis confirmed that the team owners will be summoned by the deputy sports minister and must commit to preventing such behaviour in the future.
“Otherwise, this year’s championship will be permanently suspended,” Marinakis warned.
The two clubs recently competed for third place in the EuroLeague finals held in Abu Dhabi. However, the domestic game has been marred by increasing violence in recent years.
In 2022 and 2023, two football fans lost their lives in unrelated incidents, and earlier this year, a 20-year-old man was convicted of manslaughter for killing a policeman with a flare during volleyball-related clashes.
Greek authorities have vowed to crack down on hooliganism and improve safety at sporting events.
Source: Reuters
