Fan dies, drastic consequences
UEFA boss calls for fight against ‘cancer’ hooligans
08/16/2023 4:23 p.m
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has urged European football to fight ‘the cancer’ of hooliganism following the death of a Greek fan. Drastic consequences are already being announced in Greece.
Following the death of a Greek football fan last week, the Greek government and UEFA have announced tightened measures to combat hooligans and fan violence. “Violence and hooliganism are not a Greek problem, they are a European problem,” said UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin at a meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens. You shouldn’t call these people fans, they are “the cancer of football, they use it for their idiotic ideas”.
Mitsotakis announced tightened measures for Greece. All organized fan clubs should be closed. In the future there will only be one official fan club linked to the club, he said. In addition, the powers of the police at the stadiums are to be expanded and controls tightened.
The meeting was also attended by bosses and representatives of the four major Greek clubs Panathinaikos Athens, Olympiacos Piraeus, AEK Athens and PAOK Thessaloniki. Mitsotakis appealed to the clubs to also take responsibility and fight against fan violence. Everyone must be mobilized, and that across Europe, it said in the joint statements.
Last week, before the Champions League qualifier between AEK Athens and Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb, around 150 Croatian hooligans rioted in the Athens suburb of Nea Filadelfia. During the serious riots, a Greek fan was killed by a stab wound. Around 100 Croatians and fans of other nationalities have been in Greek prisons since then. The first leg in Athens was canceled by UEFA and postponed to August 19.
Mitsotakis assured that those responsible for the fan’s death would be found and punished. He also forbade interference by other states. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic previously accused the Athens authorities of treating Croatian hooligans like prisoners of war. “Greece is a constitutional state, there are laws here, the judiciary is independent,” Mitsotakis clarified.