This year’s final of the Greek Basketball League championship between rivals Panathinaikos and Olympiakos will not take place unless the teams’ owners appear before the sports minister, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis has reiterated.
“If the owners of the two teams do not appear by noon tomorrow, this year’s championship will not be completed,” Marinakis said in an interview with ANT1 TV.
His comments follow violent incidents during the second game of the league final at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Sunday, which led to the postponement of the third game, originally scheduled for Wednesday.
Marinakis emphasized the government’s determination to address long-standing problems in Greek sports, declaring: “We do not want to be yet another ‘spectator government’ to the deep-seated problems that we have seen for many years in various forms in our country.”
He acknowledged the political risks involved, noting that the government was prepared to take “unpleasant” decisions in order to restore order and integrity to Greek basketball. “We are judged on this,” he said.
Highlighting Greece’s historic passion for basketball, Marinakis added, “These two teams have brought the European Championship 10 times in the last 30 years to the country.”
On Sunday, Olympiakos basketball owners Panagiotis and George Angelopoulos and Panathinaikos owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos clashed over the alleged use of obscene gestures and offensive chants by spectators.
On Monday, the owners of each team ruled out attending a joint meeting with the sports minister, leaving the fate of the government ultimatum in doubt. However, on Tuesday, Sports Minister Yiannis Vroutsis told Sport FM 94.6 that Panathinaikos owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos had indicated that he will attend.
