Greek Football Club PAOK Owner Banned For 3 Years Over Pitch Invasion With Gun
The ruling, which also includes a 100,000-euro fine for Greek-Russian businessman Savvidis and separate 63,000-euro fine for PAOK, is open to appeal.
Highlights
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The owner of Greek club PAOK has been banned for three years
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The owner had stormed onto the pitch with a holstered gun on his belt
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The Greek leage will resume on Saturday after being suspended on March 12
The owner of Greek club PAOK has been banned for three years after storming onto the pitch with a holstered gun on his belt, league organisers said. PAOK were also docked three points and fined for Ivan Savvidis' actions, meaning they drop to third place in a tight championship race with AEK and Olympiakos. The ruling, which also includes a 100,000-euro (123,000 US dollars) fine for Greek-Russian businessman Savvidis and a separate 63,000-euro fine for PAOK, is open to appeal. Also on Thursday, the monitoring committee of global football body FIFA recommended the immediate suspension of Greece's football federation, according to a letter leaked to Greek media.
The Greek league will resume on Saturday after being suspended on March 12 in the wake of the Savvidis incident.
The clubs have agreed to a list of government demands, including point deductions and automatic relegation for clubs responsible for the violence.
The 58-year-old tobacco industrialist, a former lawmaker with the party of Russian president Vladimir Putin, is considered a political ally of Tsipras. Flanked by bodyguards, he stormed onto the field in the 90th minute earlier this month after a goal that would have won the top-of-the-table clash was disallowed for offside. Police have said Savvidis is not sought over the gun, for which he has a license, but for the pitch invasion, which is a criminal offence although it carries no prison sentence.