Tsipras lends full support to Kontonis in battle with soccer federation
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has thrown the ball at the court of the soccer federation and the clubs, concerning the threat by FIFA and UEFA for an indefinite suspension of the Greek game until the government revokes its decision to cancel this year’s Greek Cup and stops interfering with the governance of soccer in Greece.
Tsipras, known to be an ardent soccer fan, met with Deputy Minister for Sports Stavros Kontonis on Friday and gave him his full support in the battle Kontonis has started with the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) on the Cup, that will continue at the Council of State – Greece’s constitutional court – probably next week.
After the meeting Tsipras tweeted that he asked Kontonis not to take a single step back, adding “now either everyone will accept the cleaning up of soccer, or face the consequences”.
Friday was the deadline that FIFA had set to the Greek government to revoke its decision on the Greek Cup, but the head of its delegation to Athens on Wednesday, Costakis Koutsokoumnis, hinted there might be a one-week extension to the ultimatum, before Greece gets excommunicated from international soccer.
The case against Kontonis’s decision that EPO has brought to the Council of State is set for hearing on Tuesday, April 5.
