EPO deputy president: “The dead observer in the paintings was Mr. Mandalos’ fault”

On Kyriakos Thomaidis’ show, “Trial to SKAI”, the deputy president of EPO was hosted, Nikos Tzorgzogloutalking about the hot issues facing the new management of the Hellenic Football Federation.

What he said in detail:



For the League to have the upper hand on the Professional Football Commission: “In the Professional Football Committee, as Mr. Gagatsis rightly said, professional football actually has the majority, as it is today there is no problem”.

For professional arbitration: “Professional refereeing could happen, but I think it’s not yet ripe. Arbitration can only be under the Federation. In all the countries of the planet, the Federation has the supervision. Now if there is a collaboration with the League, this will be seen through discussions. We can go to professional arbitration, but it takes time and work and not overnight.”.

For the money that EPO owed to the Associations: “We went to court for the money owed by EPO. A year ago, possibly because of the extrajudicial order we had sent at the time, Mr. Baltakos almost paid the amount corresponding to the percentages and the EPO did not pay. We are talking about 3% of ticket revenue. The rest we did not get, they are not of the percentage, they will be given, but they have nothing to do with what we asked for.

In 2009, with Mr. Pilavios as president of the Federation, many millions were deleted in a general meeting. The Union of Heraklion was to receive 300,000 euros, another 700,000 euros. These sums we were told that for some reasons had to be written off and the General Assembly did so in July 2009. They were then given to the Federation on the condition that they would then get some money which, in the end, they did not. By decision of the Executive Committee, we have now decided to implement the 60-40 in favor of the Associations. The first step will be this”.

Regarding the fact that Attica does not have a single representative in the EPO Committees: “Everyone can say what they want. In particular, Mr. Koutentakis has the experience and knowledge. And Crete didn’t have a single one, it doesn’t mean anything. One month we are administration. In a month, important things have happened that half-dead football did not have”.

For the errors in the referee tables with… dead to be defined: “The dead observer was in the paintings by Mr. Mandalo, the new KED just didn’t notice it. It was on the boards in June, not put by Mr. Lanois. I am answering for Mr. Haniotakis, it was Mr. Mandalos’s fault that he was on the boards. It is also the responsibility, I would agree, of the new Arbitration Committee”.

For the new referee: “Not only the selection of Lanois, but all three, by Mr. Rossetti, are excellent, from top leagues. It has never happened before in Greece that we have referees of such high prestige. Mr. Gagatsis succeeded and we must give him credit for this. KED is now responsible. These three referees, in the first Professional Football Committee, passed unanimously from all and from Panathinaikos and from AEK and from PAOK, from all. We have a Commission that came to Greece and it is unanimously accepted.

We do not make the definitions. M. Lanois makes them. The referees are not only the 19 of the Super League and the Second National League, there are hundreds, it is not possible for Mr. Lanois to know in 20 days if Koukoulakis is paying. They would have to review many resumes in a short period of time. Referee ratings are in the hundreds and over time you can be sure that everything will be cured”.

For the administration of the Referees Association: “Unfortunately, the current administration of the Referees Association is not appointed in accordance with FIFA and UEFA guidelines. My firm position is that the electoral system of the Federation is the generator of the pathogenesis. I have already proposed to democratize, to expand the electoral system, and with the arbitrators”.