Baltakos: “The final will take place, some are preventing it from taking place”

The president of the EPO, Takis Baltakos spoke to Metropolis and addressed the burning issue of the Novibet Cup final.

In particular, he noted that some are trying to obstruct its conduct, however he emphasized that he will fight to win this battle.

Everything he said in detail:

“If we knew clearly who was obstructing the final, we would say so. However, if one observes the events from the beginning, one will see that in Cyprus we had agreed on everything with the Cyprus federation. And the people answered us that there was an agreement with the police that will set conditions. As does the Greek police. But we were never told that the Cyprus police would say no. They made a statement and said that they requested information from the Greek police and with that information they refused to hold the match. The Cypriots said so. In Cyprus, what incidents could take place? Then comes the mayor of Volos, Beos. It was decided by us that the agreement with the invitations would be respected. But along the way the Mayor changed his decision. We left him out of the meeting for the measures of order because it was not the responsibility of the municipality to have its representatives present there. And a little later he said that he is not giving the pitch because he was misunderstood as it is conveyed to me”first reported and continued:

If he believes that he is responsible Lefteris AvgenakisDeputy Minister of Sports: “I do not know it. If I had evidence I would say so immediately. We are organizing it, how are we going to sabotage it? There are many coincidences. Iraklis of Larissa played against PAOK B at the stadium of Larissa. We asked PAOK and he told us that there is no problem with the specific stadium and the final could be held in Larissa. However, the fire department, for unknown reasons, told us that they want the works to be done for a month. Since works need to be done in Larissa, the question is how does the fire department give permission for Iraklis Larisas to play there for League 2? Is the Fire Department giving illegal approval for the stadium in Larissa?”

He continued by saying: “However, EPO has no fans. It is something that concerns the Government. Does the EPO have police? Of course not. But we will exhaust our possibilities, we will do everything to make the final. And the final will be held. The EPO administration will not be affected. It is already worn out, but there are some who are interested in hurting the management of the EPO. How will we get back to Volos? Only if the mayor changes his mind. We had agreed with Beo on the 400 invitations and we also asked for extra invitations for the sponsors we want in the final.”

If the possibility of holding the final is up in the air: “No we are not yet, we don’t have anything tangible at the moment. We will make other efforts. We will win this battle and those who believe that there will not be a Cup final will be disappointed. I don’t rule out anything even the double final if the teams say yes. Fans will be present. There is no need to move the fans. What matters is what the announcement says. That the final will happen. The agreement of both groups is required. Teams must agree. We talk to the teams. PAOK does not want to play in OAKA for reasons we know and have analyzed in the recent past. PAOK cannot keep playing in the city of its opponents. I had made a verbal approach but to no avail, but we did not send a letter to OAKA”.