Greek oligarchs battle over football league

7/2/2020

By Kerin Hope

Fearing unrest, government enacts law to prevent PAOK relegation

One of the Greek oligarchs is dubbed the Kremlin’s man because of his links with Vladimir Putin. The other is a shipping magnate and the proprietor of a media empire.

But their wealth and influence has not stopped Ivan Savvidis and Vangelis Marinakis getting sucked into a bitter argument over football.

The feud between the two men burst into the political arena when Greece’s centre-right government intervened unexpectedly to legislate to settle a row over their rival teams.

Greece’s independent sports authority last week called for the relegation of Mr Savvidis’s PAOK, the country’s top team, amid a row over ownership. Two days later, the government pushed through an emergency law that effectively prevented the relegation but docked Mr Savvidis’s PAOK of points, a move that is likely to ensure that Mr Marinakis’s Olympiakos, its closest rival, will win the championship.

Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had feared that the expulsions would have a “debilitating” impact, a government spokesman said. Such was the intensity of feeling that members of a militant PAOK fan club warned a minister against “showing up anywhere in the north without bodyguards and a police escort”.

“The legislation was intended to be a compromise because the northern team [PAOK] will avoid the stigma of expulsion, while Olympiakos becomes frontrunner to win the championship again after a gap of several years,” said an adviser to the sports ministry.

But just seven months into his leadership, the decision illustrates Mr Mitsotakis’s reluctance to challenge oligarchs or take unpopular measures, analysts said.

“There’s no doubt this ruling [by the sports authority], if adopted, would have a high political cost. PAOK supporters are a powerful force across northern Greece. But the fact that this government dismissed the findings of an independent regulatory committee and accommodated an oligarch sends a very disheartening message,” said Aris Hatzis, a law professor at Athens university.

The row erupted when the sports authority ruled that reigning champions PAOK and seventh-placed Xanthi should be expelled from the 14-club Greek Super League.

The sports authority said that an investigation had revealed that Mr Savvidis, who took over PAOK in 2012, had acquired Xanthi in 2018 in violation of a ban on a single investor owning more than one Super League club.

The acquisition was made through a Cypriot offshore company controlled by a relative of Mr Savvidis, according to people with knowledge of the investigation. Mr Marinakis had complained that Mr Saviddis owned both teams, a sports authority source said.

PAOK denied that the Savvidis family owned Xanthi. “It’s an absolute and huge lie . . . Mr Savvidis and his family’s power, passion and concern regarding football are directed only to PAOK,” it said. Neither Mr Savvidis nor Mr Marinakis could be reached for comment.

Rivalry between the two owners has intensified after Thessaloniki-based PAOK emerged to challenge Olympiakos’s seven-year grip on the Greek championship.

Mr Savvidis, a former member of the Russian parliament with Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, bought 51 per cent of PAOK through Dimera, a holding company for his Greek assets, which include a minority stake in Thessaloniki port.

The Russia-born businessman, worth an estimated $1.6bn according to Forbes magazine, founded the Russian tobacco, cigarette and food processing group Agrokom in the 2000s.

He wields huge influence over Greece’s large minority of Pontians, ethnic Greeks like himself from the Black Sea and the Caucasus region. PAOK’s recent success has only cemented his popularity.

“Ivan is a benefactor of Thessaloniki thanks to his investments in hotels and real estate during the crisis but most of all PAOK. He’s one of the most popular people in the city,” said Thanasi Papazoglou, a local businessman.

Mr Marinakis, from a shipowning family in Crete, bought Olympiakos in 2010. Under a $1.65bn deal in 2018 between his tanker business Capital Products and DSS Holdings, whose biggest shareholder is US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, Mr Marinakis created one of the biggest listed global tanker groups.

He also owns Nottingham Forest football club in England. His media empire includes a national television channel, newspapers, radio station and a leading news website.

Through their ownership of the clubs, both men have enjoyed increased political clout and social prestige.

But football in Greece has long been plagued by crowd violence that can spill over into street riots. There are frequent allegations of match-fixing and bribery of referees and players. Club officials have previously stormed the pitch to attack referees and linesmen.

Mr Savvidis was banned from attending PAOK matches for 12 months after he rushed on to the pitch in 2018 to protest against a penalty decision wearing a holstered pistol on his belt. Mr Marinakis was acquitted by the Greek supreme court in 2018 of charges of match-fixing.

After the legislation was passed, Mr Mitsotakis has asked football’s governing bodies Fifa and Uefa to help Athens “reform and revive” Greek football.

“That will mean tight regulation and international surveillance,” he said. “If the clubs don’t take part of their own accord in this clean-up, they’ll lose fans and status and face expulsion [from the Super League] under European rules.”

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