“The open vineyard-field stops” declared the Deputy Minister of Sports Yannis Vroutsis, immediately after the meeting he had this morning, at the Thessaloniki Governor’s Office, with the Deputy Minister of the Interior, responsible for Macedonia and Thrace, Stathis Konstantinidis, when asked about the opening of the stadiums and the new measures for dealing with sports violence.

“We are coming to deal with what is brewing inside the football stadiums. Where fan behavior is organized, the extreme. From February 13 – and this concerns all sports, a draconian law – framework will be implemented, with very strict sanctions throughout Greece,” said Mr. Vroutsis, adding that “the sanctions will be such that those who break the law will be brought before in very difficult situations”.

Regarding the installation and operation of cameras from March 6, he added that “they will see every corner of the field, even the changing rooms”, while he focused on the innovation of entering the playing fields from April 9: “Whoever enters the field will know who he ishis address and telephone number”.

“Our ambition is for Kavtanzoglio to become the OAKA of Northern Greece”

“Our ambition Kautanzoglio to become the OAKA of Northern Greecesaid Mr. Vroutsis, stressing that the stadium will soon have a manager.

The an. Minister of Sports emphasized that “what we promised last December, we put into practice. The two leading sports facilities of Thessaloniki, the Kavtanzoglio stadium and the EAK, have an increase in their budget, of the order of 150% the first and 49% the second. Resources that are coming for the first time, resources that are unprecedented in growth.”

Mr. Vroutsis focused on specific procedures. “First, safety in all sports facilities. There will never again be an unsafe sports facility anywhere in Greece,” he stressed. “Secondly, energy upgrade everywhere. We aspire to all these national sports centers, the two big ones in Athens, SEF and OAKA, the two big ones in Thessaloniki, Kavtanzoglio and EAK, and Patras to gain energy independence”, he added, while as a third element he mentioned “the access of the disabled, with special plan, under which a special committee of 17 wheelchair athletes will be set up to certify each national sports center if it is accessible.

He emphasized that all “the money will only go to existing infrastructures. Enough with the new ones. We have beautiful sports centers and facilities. We will modernize these.”

Cyclists from 30 countries will cross Greece – They start from Thessaloniki

A big cycling action will take place in May, starting from Thessaloniki. As Mr. Vroutsis said, on May 14-15, Thessaloniki will be full of bikes with top cyclists. The start will be given under the statue of Alexander the Great and after the cyclists will cross the whole of Greece, they will end up in Athens.

St. Konstantinidis: Significant increases in funding for sports facilities

“The increases in the financing of sports facilities for Thessaloniki and Northern Greece are very important. We had a cooperation meeting in order to coordinate our actions so that the rehabilitation and improvement projects of the sports facilities aimed at all citizens can proceed immediately” he said, for his part, the undersecretary of the interior, responsible for Macedonia – Thrace issues, Mr. Konstantinidis, after the end of the meeting.