Avgenakis: “The attitude of Superleague 2 is extortionate – Resumption to continue the dialogue”!

> Sports Corporations that do not have e.g. submit the necessary Letter of Guarantee and have not secured from the Professional Sports Committee the necessary Certificate of Participation in their league (such as Apollon Larisas and Herodotos in SL2).

> No funding will be paid to the Sports Societies involved in Reports to the National Sports Integrity Platform, for their possible participation in rigged matches, until EPATHLA issues a Finding.

Since the Finding is sent to the Sports Authorities for further investigation of the case, the suspension of funding remains until the relevant bodies have decided.

In that meeting, which everyone reasonably found the above criteria, it was not Super League 1, which came normally to the next meeting.

On January 31, two weeks ago, everyone was present: Katia Koxenoglou (deputy president of SL1), Leonidas Leoutsakos (president of SL2), Vangelis Galatsopoulos (president of ESAKE) and Pantelis Tarnatoros (president of ESAP).

The purpose of the 2nd meeting was to agree on a fair distribution of the money allocated to professional sports, and for this purpose, all the distribution criteria and parameters were now analyzed, as they are now collected by the mechanisms we have developed at the Deputy Ministry of Sports.

We mentioned them as examples:

> The details of their participation in the turnover of the betting companies.

> Reports to the National Platform for Sports Integrity (EPATHLA) for possible match manipulation, mainly by Sport Radar, the international company that cooperates with UEFA and whose purpose is to detect suspicious betting activities in matches. They were informed, therefore, that for the current season EPATHLA is already examining 13 reports for possible match manipulation in SL2 and one for a Basket League match.

* In these intervening two weeks, 11 of the 13 SL2 Match Reports have already been evaluated by EPATHLA and for two of these matches a further investigation result is obtained by the Sports Prosecutor and the EPO Disciplinary Body.

* Likewise, a Finding of further investigation by the Sports Prosecutor and the Disciplinary Body of the EEC was also obtained for a basketball match, which I mentioned above.

> We also mentioned to them the decision 600 of October 7, 2021, which was extended to October 2022, by the Commission for the Supervision and Control of Games to impose limits on permitted betting in SL2, with very low amounts per person.

EEEP participates in the E.P.ATHLA. (together with the Sports Prosecutor, the National Transparency Authority, the Hellenic Sports Authority and the Deputy Ministry of Sports) and have put the “dangerous” (as it has been described) SL2 league under strict surveillance.

> We mentioned them as criteria and the income from the European participations, which they receive from the international Federations, depending on the sport, but also the number of participating teams in the championships, where in some places they are in excess (as in SL2, where 30 PAEs participate) and in others they are lacking (as in Men’s Volleyball League with only 10 teams).

At this point let me clarify the following:

When we consulted with the EPO, Super League 2 and the then Football League – in late 2020 – to consolidate the two lower professional divisions into one, at their request (which we did in June 2021), it was expressly agreed that the new merged division would have a limited number of teams, combined with the high amounts of Share Capital and the presentation of a Letter of Guarantee, in order to ensure the viability and quality of the new league over a 3-year period.

The agreement was violated by EPO and Super League 2, hiding behind articles 97 and 98 of Law 2725/1999 on their “competence” in the organization of their leagues.

The “extreme category” I often read densely that we created is entirely their own doing!

Or, better, of their own services…

As mentioned in the announcement issued subsequently by the Deputy Ministry of Sports, on the afternoon of January 31, “in principle, SL1, ESAKE and ESAP expressed their satisfaction (with the discussion), while all four Leagues requested a 48-hour deadline to inform the their teams and come back”.

Waiting for everyone to return to the talks to reach a final agreement, Super League 2 suddenly decided on February 2nd, with the completion of 48 hours, to stop the league, with wild demands and imaginary claims of amounts due that do not appear from anywhere.

More specifically, they demand in their official announcement 8-8.5 million euros! Unfortunately, you mention the same amounts without any documentation whatsoever.

Reference is made to the 2021 MLA, which referred to the distribution at the time and which describes the MAXIMUM amount that can be given to a category, as long as the income from the bet reaches or exceeds 100 million euros!

It says “until” that KYA, which does not concern this distribution, this year’s and yet, you adopt this incredible populism without shame!

I would add that in SL2’s misleading announcement there is no mention that they agree to the funding exemptions for teams that do not meet the criteria, as discussed above.

They renewed their decision to continue the suspension of the Super League 2 championship last Thursday, February 9!

We worked intensively so that in the next few days the 62.7 million euros, which I analyzed earlier, will be distributed to all the REST of professional and amateur sports.

From Super League 2 we expect the change of its blackmailing and fruitless attitude, the return of the teams to competitive activity and then the continuation of our dialogue.

In addition, we are also looking at all possible ways of looking after and safeguarding the rights of players and workers in SL2 FAs, should Super League 2’s irrational behavior continue.