Takis Baltakos’ EPO isn’t only dragging Greek football through the mud, it’s also maligning football in general

The calendar today shows April 18, and Greece’s Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) is still searching for a venue to host the Greek Cup final of the 2022-23 season. Traditionally, in association football the Cup final is the only pro match organized by each country’s national federation.

The last reports have members of EPO’s executive committee convening on April 27. Supposedly, after this meeting we’ll see “where, when … and if” the final will take place. It’s as if we’re not talking about a match result that will determine a Cup winner and a ticket for next season’s European play, but rather a type of friendly game, which if the necessary conditions aren’t eventually achieved, it doesn’t matter if …we leave the match for later.

This particular story is a debacle.

Is it or is it not a debacle, not only for Greek football, but for football in general. The Greek federation does not belong to EPO president Takis Baltakos, who on a daily basis incessantly lies. For instance, he claimed EPO doesn’t owe money to the Athens Olympic Stadium (OAKA), until the latter announced an outstanding bill of 46,000 euros.

EPO is a federation that operates under UEFA. However, if the latter isn’t currently interested, at some point UEFA officials will obviously understand that they’ll find this mess before them.

We all saw what happened with Polish referee Paweł Raczkowski. They painted him as a “drunk” in order to eliminate him from officiating the AEK Athens-Aris Thessaloniki match, all done in an unprecedented coup-like manner.

The Pole went and spoke to UEFA Referees’ Committee chairman Roberto Rosetti, explaining how out of nowhere he found himself involved in something reminiscent of a … documentary on Netflix. How can this man now restore his honor and reputation. Somehow, he was subsequently «cut» from the officiating team of the Napoli-Milan match (he was originally designated as the fourth referee in the semi-final).

Why? Because Italian media could possibly reproduce this nonsense and create a whole new batch of innuendoes against someone who simply can’t prove his blamelessness.

Is this UEFA’s solution, though? To hide in EPO’s …garbage, under the mat? Is this how it will help Greek football, by leaving Takis Baltakos, head ref Steve Bennett and their hangers-on unrestrained?

And what exactly is UEFA’s take over what’s going on regarding the Cup final? EPO announced the final’s holding at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia, Cyprus, but without first asking Cypriot police, making a mockery of itself. It then announced that the Panthessaliko Stadium in Volos, central Greece, would host the final. Yet this was also quickly reversed when the mayor of Volos …whispered to the federation that there’s no way the municipality will accept hosting a match that in 2017 generated extremely negative media attention around the world with images of the hooliganism that took place at the Volos stadium during another Greek Cup final that year.

The federation then leaked a story that it wants OAKA, and when its debt was revealed, it claimed it doesn’t owe a single euro, until the… debt was publicized today!

Now, the federation again says it wants the Panthessaliko Stadium, and heading into May, who knows what’s next. It may announce that the Cup final will take place on the moon!

The organization of the Cup final is based on an announcement issued by the federation beforehand. The latter expressly provides (an international exclusive) that if the Cup final includes one team from Thessaloniki and the other from Athens, then the match will be held at the Panthessaliko Stadium or abroad.

Today’s EPO leadership and Takis Baltakos aren’t able to implement something so simple. However, when this incompetence is tolerated by UEFA, the problem isn’t merely Baltakos, nor only of Greek football. It’s proof that anyone can do whatever they want… under the nose of UEFA.

A complete dissolution isn’t part of the “self-governance” regime. It’s an example for other national federations, namely, that they can do whatever they want with UEFA and the latter’s rules … as an excuse for realizing their plans.

What’s strange isn’t Baltakos and all that’s taking place here; what’s strange is what they insist on tolerating these actions there…