The difficulty that will exist from the new season in finding Elite foreign referees to whistle in the Stoiximan Super League games, due to what happened in the Olympiakos derby with AEK in “Karaiskakis”, he commented on his statements on the “City” radio station » the president of EPO, Takis Baltakoswho also spoke about this year’s Cup final.
In detail what the EPO president said:
For Mr. Bennet’s stay: “He has a two-year contract and we don’t have any discussion on the matter.”.
On whether we will have foreign referees next year: “I don’t know… Mr. Ceferin’s letter is valid and has been delivered to all federations. It will not be easy from August onwards to find elite referees. There are only 26 in Europe. And all this has happened with what happened to the foreign referees in Greece, culminating in what happened to “Karaiskakis”. This can only change if Mr. Ceferin reverses the decision which he communicated by letter.”.
On whether the Greek referees are ready to whistle the derbies: “If they let them, they are. So it’s not a matter of referees but of the situation that exists”.
On whether the state will deal with the protection of referees: “Protection measures should be taken because they cannot do their work if they are afraid to go home. The EPO is not the police. As the EPO is not responsible for fan violence either, but it was even accused of this”.
For the Cup final: “The Cypriot federation told us that they are afraid of the movement of fans without tickets and they will meet outside the stadium… We are talking about imaginary strikes and there were simply mayors who found an excuse and did not want to have the slightest responsibility”.
On why there can’t be a crowded final: “Whenever there has been a final with people, there have been incidents. Episodes are a social phenomenon, not just a sporting one. What can the EPO do about it? For EPO, a final without people is also a financial “wound”, but this also hurts the teams”.
On whether a double final of the year will be predicted: “The announcement will change. Last year, the idea of Thessaloniki came to the fore, asking for care to be taken in case a team from northern Greece finds itself in the final. Now the announcement will be changed so that the committee will be able to decide where the final will take place and whether it will be singles or doubles”.
As to whether it can be foreseen in the announcement that the teams be obliged to give their stadium for the final: “Let’s talk about it after the final…”
On why England, Australia and other countries were discussed for this year’s final: “I want the quality of the final to rise and we looked for the possibility of the final being held outside of Greece, in a place that also has expatriates, to get away from fan violence. America was there as an afterthought but there were issues with travel time, jet lag and more.”.
Regarding the announcement of Cyprus as the host of the final without the safeguards in place: “We discussed with the Cyprus federation. We couldn’t talk to the police, we have no jurisdiction. We talked at length and asked them if there was an issue with the police and they said “don’t bother, he will set conditions”. We accepted it because the police would impose conditions in Greece as well. The federation told us “the whole of Cyprus is waiting for you”. We had all the assurances and I repeat to you that as EPO we could not talk to the police. This was done by the Cypriot federation, which when it spoke to the police. The Cypriot police corresponded with the Greek police who sent such information to the Cypriots that caused the police to refuse to hold the final. When we told the Cypriot federation to hold the final behind closed doors, they said no and behind closed doors. The Cypriot police did not want the final for fear of fan violence and were against even a closed-door final”.
For the final in Volos: “The teams will each have 20 invitations”.
For Elbasan’s alternative: “We want to have a second solution in case anything happens”.
As for whether there will be any kind of care for those who booked air tickets to Cyprus: “Nothing has been done but if there is a request, we will discuss it”.
About the referee of the final and whether he will be a foreigner: “It is a matter for the chief referee because it concerns him. There is an intention for a foreign level referee”.
Source: Sport Fm
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