OH: “Regulations for Alkalide-AEK, we expect the new definition of the final”

The Hellenic FederationOHE) wanted to emphasize to the European Federation of the sport that for this year’s finish of the EHF European Cup was not set for their terms and wondered about the problem that arose before the second game with Greek fans at the border: “Why is a minister responsible for the security of a country discovering security problem after the first game and a few days before the second?”.

At the same time, the OHE clarifies that: “We look forward to the re -definition of the match, with the presence of the fans of both teams, as evidenced by the EHF regulations, which were circumvented in the 2nd match, without sufficient justification”.

In fact, from the questions addressed by the OCE, it becomes clear that the Skopjeans wanted to bring the Greek team before the event and to play Sunday’s final as they wanted, with the conditions of inequality they created.

In detail the letter:

“Mr President,

We send you this letter about the 2nd final of the EHF European Cup between the Alkaloid-AEK teams scheduled for Sunday 25/5 at the “Boris Traikovsky” stadium in Skopje.

You know that the Hellenic Federation had no organizational or other role in conducting these two finals, but from our presence in both games, we have seen the problems that arose, their management and we are obliged for the good handball to take a stand.

We remind you that 6 EHF European Cup finals have been organized in our country without any organizational, racing or other problem. At the same time, dozens of corresponding European finals have been held in Greece in all sports without any organizational or other safety problem. In all the aforementioned events, the regulations of the respective European or International Federations were fully implemented, except for the AEK finals in the period 2020-2021, where due to Covid the health protocols of the European Federation were followed.

For these finals, the big question is why before the games started, the terms of their conduct were not set, since we also knew the capacity of the stadiums and the European Federation’s respective guidelines for the security and the number of tickets that each team was entitled to. If either of the two teams were facing any safety problem or other issue, they had to be discussed and agreed before the first game of the finals.

AEK, for its part, organized an excellent first match on a stadium with a capacity of 8,500 seats and faced no problem with security either with the hosting of the Alkaloid team and its fans.

On Thursday 22/5 we received an update from you about the security problems that occurred in Northern Macedonia and the following simple questions are rightly asked:

– Why does a minister responsible for the security of a country discover security problem after the first game and a few days before the second?

-What cannot the principles of a state be secured to secure the presence of 650 fans on a 7,000 -seat stadium and their access to the country’s borders on the court?

-What did AEK press, a few days ago, to play in these conditions in the 2nd final?

-Why in meetings between the representatives of the two groups, the security authorities of Northern Macedonia and the European Federation, and since there was such an emergency major security problem (which we did not know before) it was not proposed, for the sake of equality, to make the final and the final.

We remind you that this is the 2nd time AEK has such an outward -winning game (the previous one with Partizan), while the games in Greece are in the safest way.

And finally let us know the authorities of Northern Macedonia, what are these extraordinary security reasons, just days before the game that is causing a ban on Greek fans in the country.

Mr President,

Our interest in defending and protecting our sports, both in our country and in Europe, is strong. It is our desire, large clubs aimed at thousands of fans, such as AEK to participate in both the Greek championships and the European championships, in the presence of their fans, as provided by the regulations both at home and away, regardless of the relations between the countries.

This is a great conquest for sport in general.

Mr President,

We must show all the teams in Europe, to all those who are tired of the sport (athletes, athletes, agents, referees, etc.) that there is a will of all countries and interested parties to organize equity races.

In this case, AEK fully implemented the regulations in the first race, without any problems and had to be treated the same in the 2nd race, regardless of the outcome.

With confidence in your judgment and in the context of the good, whose philosophy was born in our country and spread all over the world, as a basic concept of Olympism, we expect the re -definition of the match, in the presence of fans of both teams, as evidenced by the Ehf’s Rules of Procedure.

The president of the OCE

Konstantinos Gandis Constantine Stamatiadis