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Greek football is in its deepest crisis

17 November 2014 / 13:11:55  GRReporter
2689 reads

The attempted murder, as defined by the Greek media, of a football championship referee, the subsequent interruption of football matches and the loss of the national team in the match with the team of Faroe Islands speak for the situation of Greek football.

The crisis is so severe that it has provoked a series of publications, including in the German press, as reported by the Greek department of "Deutsche Welle".

The publication in the online edition of Süddeutsche Zeitung is entitled "Faroe Islands disgraced Greece" and it reads, "The Greek national team was disgraced in the Euro 2016 qualifying rounds. It lost 0:1 to the Faroe Islands and it remains at the tail-end of the group with one point."

Newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung disseminates the news in a similar way, noting, "There were worse performances compared to those of Germany’s World Cup winning team against Gibraltar. Greece, the European champion of 2004, has found itself in the last place, having lost to the team of the Faroe Islands, which was the biggest surprise of Friday’s matches."

Tabloid Bild writes, "The biggest shame for Greek football so far had immediate consequences. 13 hours after the 0:1 result of the Greece - Faroe Islands match coach Claudio Ranieri was dismissed. Chelsea’s former coach had been appointed coach of the Greek nationals only a few months previously, on 26 July."

Kicker sports magazine describes as a "surprise" the events in the sixth qualification group for the European football championship. "Unexpectedly, Faroe Islands have defeated Greece and the team is even holding the lead in points against the Greeks, who, with only one point after four matches, are experiencing their Waterloo during the European qualifying rounds".

An analysis by the German news agency DPA describes the severe crisis in Greek football, "which is associated mostly with the violence and corruption that reign in the teams."

The publication describes the events associated with the dismissal of Claudio Ranieri, the names of the coaches, who are rumoured to replace him at the head of the Greek national football team, and the probability of president of the Hellenic Football Federation George Sarris being removed from office. "Saris is considered as the person responsible for the failed change of the coach of the national team and for the hopeless state of Greece’s professional football, where the teams are seriously affected by the violence in the stands and allegations of corruption, the recent indicative case being the attack against former referee of the World Football Federation FIFA Christoforos Zografos. He was seriously wounded by unknown, for the time being, persons and transported to hospital for treatment."

Regarding the fact that president of Olympiakos football club Vangelis Marinakis has accused President of AEK Dimitris Melisanidis of the attack against Zografos and that they have to appear to testify before the sports prosecutor on Tuesday, the agency states, "Without any doubt, in no way will this contribute towards putting an end to the "civil war" that has been waging in Greek football for years."

Tags: SportsFootballGreek national teamFaroe IslandsClaudio RanieriRefereeBeatingCrisis
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