Greek Super League kicks off with delay over fans violence row

Greek Super League with 16 teams kicked off this weekend with a three-week delay over a fans violence row.

The matches started following the resignation of the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) president, Yorgos Girtzikis on Friday.

Girtzikis tendered his resignation after a lengthy and heated discord with the Greek government over the way to combat crowd violence, which triggered FIFA's and UEFA's intervention.

Representatives of the international football federations had visited Athens in late August seeking an agreement for the start of the championship which in previous years started in the second half of August.

This year, after a stormy 2015-2016 season that was interrupted three times due to violence, Greek Deputy Sports Minister Stavros Kontonis suspended the start of the games on grounds of safety until this weekend.

The Greek official had cited a police report that there was increased risk of fresh violent incidents should the league started under the current EPO administration due to mounting tensions regarding EPO's choices concerning the procedure for the appointment of match referees among other issues.

At least three Super League clubs had sent letters to the Minister lately accusing EPO of corruption and stating that they will not participate in the championship unless drastic measures are taken.

Girtzikis resigned, clearing the way for the launch of the championship, after an Appeals court ruled that he should stand trial for a corruption scandal.

The prolonged suspension of the games could lead to a "Grexit" of the Greek football from international competitions, experts warned.

All Greek national teams and clubs could face expulsion from international competitions if a deal was not reached to start the championship. Endit