Olympiakos Champions Mathematically... For Now

Olympiakos Champions Mathematically... For Now

By Stephen Kountourou,

On the 28th of June 2020, Olympiakos defeated AEK Athens 1-2 away from home at the OAKA Olympic Stadium. With that victory, the dominant Thrylos side are sitting on top of the table on 78 points, 19 ahead of second placed PAOK with 6 games to go. Mathematically Olympiakos are finally champions of Greece, with fans all over social media celebrating their team's 45th league title. Worryingly though, not one of Olympiakos official social media accounts or the players are celebrating as though they have finally achieved what they set out to do at the beginning of the season to reclaim the Greek Super League. Despite me wanting to celebrate the 3 year wait for Olympiakos to once again reach the pinnacle of Greek football, I cannot help but think that the wait is not over yet. 

There unfortunately is still the court case with the court of arbitration for Sport to see through in July, and with a potential punishment awaiting the would be Champions or the reinstatement of points for PAOK to postpone the league leaders title celebrations. Many of the events leading up to the court case were before the sudden stoppage in football, I will be taking a look at how this all started, how the rivalry between the biggest clubs from the south and the north have locked heads in court as well as on the pitch and what could happen to both sides if both are found guilty of their respective accusations.

It all began back in the last few months of 2019, when Greek Channel One, which belongs to Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marainakis, reported the damning accusation that PAOK owner Ivan Savvidis was funding a company that supported Greek Super League side Xanthi financially. In Greece the ownership of two clubs from the same league is forbidden and Olympiakos brought their findings to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. After a few months of ongoing uncertainty and a war of words between the two clubs hierarchy, the court found both PAOK and Xanthi guilty of multi-ownership, with both originally condemned to a potential relegation. 

 

The Greek government however, intervened and overturned the law of demotion to the second tier and instead, both PAOK and Xanthi were deducted points, with the Thessaloniki side, handed a seven point loss in February 2020, effectively ending their chances of retaining the title, especially after being defeated by Olympiakos 0-1 at the Toumba and went from being seven points behind to a staggering fourteen points off of their Piraeus rivals. Xanthi too were dealt a severe blow, with a whopping twelve point deduction,and their bid to finish in the playoff places all but over, they were resigned to finishing in the relegation round and try to avoid the drop. PAOK and Xanthi have the right to appeal their punishments with the court of arbitration.

 

A previous investigation which was led out in early 2015, involving a league match between Olympiakos and Atromitos. After the former defeated the latter 2-1, authorities were tipped off to some unusual activity and an inquiry was opened following the fixture. It led to the fifteen individuals being accused of orchestrating the outcome of the match and predetermining the winners, but when the case was first brought up five years ago, no one was charged and the case was left unsolved. The case was suddenly reopened during lock down however with new evidence emerging from the radio station Sport FM, putting Olympiakos and Atromitos once again under the spotlight for the wrong reasons. If both Greek clubs are found guilty of match fixing the 2015 fixture for betting purposes, they will have breached Article 27 of the code of conduct. Multiple individuals, including Marinakis, Atromitos owner Giorgios Spanos and former EPO president Giorgios Sarris to name a few are accused once again of being involved in this incident. But what would the punishments be for the 'would be' champions Olympiakos and 'would be' former champions PAOK?

For PAOK the best case scenario would be their plea to remove the points deduction previously placed upon them to be accepted, preventing Olympiakos to win the title for a few more weeks. The worst case scenario is, the points deduction stands and PAOK will have to fight for second place with AEK at their heels in 3rd.

For Olympiakos, it's a bit more complicated. 

Scenario 1: They have to hope that the court of arbitration, not only reject PAOK's appeal but also the previous match fixing scandal hanging over the club and Marinakis is cleared and not punishments are given, effectively leaving Thrylos to celebrate their title.  

Scenario 2: PAOK regain the seven points they lost previously meaning that the gap between the two sides will go from nineteen to twelve, meaning that Olympiakos will have to wait a bit longer before they guarantee themselves the title.

 

And here is what I like to call ‘Scenario Omega’, the very worst case scenario.

 

Both PAOK and Olympiakos could be found guilty of their accused crimes and rather than just a points deduction, both sides could be relegated from the Greek Super League, in an effort to clean up the game in Greece. Both owners would be suspended from football indefinitely, with heavy fines dropped on both individuals and the club, with Greek football struggling to recover for a number of years with two of the biggest sides down in the Greek Super League 2...but, hopefully this won’t come to pass.   

 

For now, all us Thrylos fans can do is wait for the outcome of the appeal from both sides, and hope that not only the league title isn't ripped from us, but our league status as well. We can only hope for the best and be positive that soon we will be enjoying our amazing teams success this season, a Cup final on the horizon, and the fight to reach our first European final. 

 

We Keep on Dreaming.

Hellas Football

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