Shipping tycoon Evangelos Marinakis, owner of Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos, is facing a criminal investigation in Greece over his role in the murder of a Greek policeman by Olympiacos hooligans last December.
A prosecutor investigating the death of officer Giorgos Lyggeridis who was fatally injured by a naval flare during clashes with Olympiacos supporters is accusing Marinakis and other prominent staff members of the Piraeus club of financing a criminal organization and inciting violence in sport.
The prosecutor is investigating the “invisible” leadership of the criminal organization made up of hard-core organized Olympiacos fans, several of whom have already been found guilty in the case.
Bringing the case against Marinakis, the prosecutor said: “Based on the detailed examination and assessment of the collected evidence, it follows that in addition to the obvious leadership, it cannot be ruled out that the criminal organization is managed, covertly and at the highest level, by the owner or executives of Olympiacos FC.
“Without their participation and ‘high protection,’ the leading members of the criminal organization would not have the universal and unquestionable acceptance and obedience of the lower members and consequently the criminal organization would not have existed, otherwise it would have had a very limited scope and action,” he added.
Marinakis and Olympiacos FC reject prosecution charges
Olympiacos FC has rejected the prosecution’s charges saying that Marinakis and the Olympiacos family “have a crystal clear conscience,” and vowing not to “blackmailed.”
“The development, which had been announced for weeks by specific political and business centers, constitutes a new attempt to blackmail Olympiacos FC and its president.
“It comes as a continuation of the unjust mass targeting of our fans as a criminal organization . . . The specific method has political characteristics and unfortunately instrumentalizes Justice,” a statement reads.
Hooligans responsible for several deaths in Greece
Greek football is plagued by endemic fan violence, which often spreads to the other sports, including basketball and volleyball, of the main clubs.
In February 2022 in Thessaloniki, nineteen-year-old Alkis Kambanos was murdered by a gang of people, who attacked him and his friends in public out on the street. The assailants, supporters of the football club PAOK, asked Kambanos and his friends what football team they supported.
The answer did not satisfy them, and they proceeded to beat and stab Kambanos and his two friends.
In August 2023 Michalis Katsouris, a fan of AEK Athens, was stabbed to death during a brawl with hooligan supporters of the Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb.
Police said nearly a hundred people were arrested after the violent clashes, which led European football’s governing body, UEFA, to postpone the Champions League qualifying third-round, first-leg match between the two sides.
Since 1983, when the first death was recorded, at least thirteen people have lost their lives in Greece as a result of football hooligan violence and a plethora of violent attacks against rival football team supporters or the police have taken place.
However, the difference between the recent attacks and the ones that happened more than a decade ago is that hooligans are now better organized and use social media to recruit new members and coordinate their campaigns of violence.