Greek football clubs are to be denied up to €40 million per year in state lottery funding unless they deal with crowd violence, the government has said.


Reuters reports that the order came after clashes between fans in stands and on the pitch at the Kavala v Aris Salonica Greek Cup semi-final match last Thursday. Aris fans had ignored a ban on visiting supporters attending the game.

"Greeks have watched the latest troubles with rage and indignation," Greek general secretary for sport Panagiotis Bitsaxis told a news conference.

"We have spoken to all the institutions but unfortunately the dialogue and agreements have collapsed. All of this forces our hand to say that violence cannot be financed from Greek taxpayers."

Bitsaxis said if violence continued electronic ticketing could be introduced and a code of disciplinary and administrative sentences created, which could even shut down clubs who fans were consistently violent.

March 30, 2010