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Greek soccer club considers withdrawal from championship after fan violence

Xinhua, November 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Greek Super League soccer club Panathinaikos examined on Sunday the prospect of withdrawal from the championship following the cancellation of a derby amidst violence over the weekend.

Panathinaikos was to host the game against archrival Olympiakos in a central Athens stadium on Saturday evening. About two hours before the start of the derby, some of the club's fans started firing flares against Olympiakos' players during their warm-up.

An Olympiakos player was slightly injured and the referee decided to cancel the game.

Hooligans responded by escalating violent attacks against police forces inside and outside the stadium.

More than 50 people were detained, at least 16 persons were charged with a string of offences, and three police officers were injured, according to police.

Under the new law against sports violence that was voted this spring, the club faces strict penalties.

Panathinaikos, which was trailing the championship's frontrunner Olympiakos by eight points, will have to play the next 3-4 games behind closed doors and pay a fine ranging from 10,000 to 1 million euros.

Media mogul Yannis Alafouzos considered his resignation from the chairmanship of Panathinaikos after the developments.

He also suggested that Panathinaikos should no longer participate in the league "in protest of the state's incompetence to tackle the problems in Greek soccer."

Following a marathon meeting of the club's board of directors, it was decided that both Alafouzos' resignation as well as Panathinaikos' walk out from the Super League will be further discussed in coming days, according to a press release.

In the meantime, the club called for a rally on Wednesday in protest of the "wrong and unacceptable" decision of the referee to call off the game and police's "inadequate measures" to safeguard order.

Panathinaikos' board of directors strongly condemned violence, stressing that the two spectators fired the flares will be expelled from the squad's fan club.

Greek soccer has suffered greatly from violence for decades. In September 2014, a fan lost his life in clashes between spectators in Crete island. The championship has been suspended three times over the past year due to violent incidents inside and outside stadiums all over Greece. Enditem