Decision to hold Atromitos-AEK! The hosts were relieved

The conduct of the match Atromitos-AEK on a new date decided the disciplinary body of the Stoiximan Super League! The hosts they were absolved of all guilt for the issue that had arisen with the height of the hearth and they were recognized for making every effort to make the match happen.

Thus, the match, at least in the first instance, is not judged on paper, while the Peristerians are not punished by deducting points. The decision is appealablea right that if AEK decides to exercise, it will bring the case to the Appeals Committee of the EPO, while the matter may even reach the International Court of Sports (CAS).

The decision concludes by stating that the judicial body “… RELEASES the accused from the attributed disciplinary offense due to lack of culpability. REJECTS the objection under item B of PAE AEK, ACCEPTS in part the above (under item C, D) additional interventions of PAE PANATHINAIKOS and PAE OLYMPIAKOS, ORDERS that the match that was not held in Athens, at the MUNICIPAL STADIUM OF PERISTERIOU on 5-2-2023 at 17.30 as part of the 21st match day of the SUPER LEAGUE Greece Championship of the 2022-2023 season between the teams PAE ATROMITOS – PAE AEK with the team of the first of the two competing P.A.E. and ORDERS the forfeiture of the fee paid by the objector in favor of the Organizing Authority».

The reasoning of the decision states: “… the issue of the deviation of the goalposts from the height prescribed by the regulation, was not proven to be due to the fault of the home team, nor in the form of negligence, since, when it took over the field, there was already a deviation in the height of the goalposts, given that the reduction of these could not happen at the moment when the organizer’s agents were already on the field. In fact, he tried with the existing staff at the time to remove the irregularity of the hearths and made every possible effort to restore their height, but it was not possible in one of the two for objective reasons. After all, the complaint of the objecting PAE AEK, that it did not have spare goals to replace them, does not prove to be valid, as the fire pits were not worn out to require replacement, but their heights had to be restored, while the installation of other fire pits did not require restoration, since they would contract at the same point. Furthermore, since it was found that both goalposts were short of the prescribed height, not restoring them would not offer any substantial advantage to the defendant, as they would be used every half-time by both teams. In fact, taking into account the serious disciplinary penalty provided for the group “guilty” of the above disciplinary offense, the proof of their guilt should be complete and the relevant judicial conviction should be firm and unshakable».

In the rationale, it is also stated that “… the objecting PAE AEK claims, with its objection, that the field became irregular also for the reason that the goal line between the vertical beams did not remain flat but suffered subsidence due to the intervention of the officials of the home team, resulting in the ball being trapped in case of slow scrolling. However, this claim is not proven to be valid and is not verified by the FA, since, if this were the case, the referee of the match when counting the goals would have noticed the unevenness of the line and recorded it in the FA, and for the additional reason of the dangerousness of the field, which did not happen. After all, the objecting PAE itself states that the gap was filled with lime as a result of which the unevenness of the goal line in relation to the rest of the playing field was restored. Under the above circumstances, therefore, the defendant must be acquitted of the act attributed to him due to lack of fault and furthermore the objection under item B of PAE AEK must be rejected, the fee paid by the defendant must be forfeited in favor of the Organizing Authority and partially accepted the additional interventions under item C’ and D’».