Greeks make peace after FIFA threat

Greece look to have escaped punishment from FIFA in a row over political interference in the domestic game.

The Greek FA (EPO) say they have sent an official statement to FIFA saying they are satisfied with the Greek government's response to a March 31st ultimatum to end interference in the Greek game.

"We are in a position to state that dialogue, which had stopped for 10 months, has restarted" the EPO statement read.

"We are confident that through this we will make the progress asked for by FIFA.

The Greek Sports Minister George Floridis denied claims from FIFA that his government is interfering in the running of football in his country.

The Greek government is planning to bring in new laws on dope testing players and the selection of referees after recent scandals and revise the financing of clubs to try and prevent corruption in the professional leagues but FIFA have responded angrily to what they see as a political challenge from Floridis and his colleagues.

Greece were threatened with suspension from the 2002 World Cup qualifiers by FIFA in the continuing row over political interference in the running of the game.

Greece are in European World Cup qualifying group nine with England, Germany, Finland and Albania. They lost 2-0 in Albania last year and have also been beaten by Germany 4-2 in Athens on Wednesday night. The Greeks host England in June.

The vice-president of FIFA's executive committee, Scotsman David Will, was in Athens earlier this month to discuss FIFA's unhappiness with Greek government policies.

A March 31st deadline had been set by FIFA for a compromise or all Greek national teams at every level of the game would be banned and World Cup qualifying group nine be thrown into chaos.

This threat appears now to have passed.

Recent corruption scandals involving the bribery of match officials in Greek football have caused the government to look at ways of breaking up the current ruling structure of the game.

Sports Minister Floridis met club chairman in February to discuss crowd violence and corruption.

The president of the EPAE or Union of Professional Soccer Clubs - Victor Mitropoulos has recently faced fraud charges with Floridis claiming the soccer boss was involved in money laundering for organised crime and illegal transfer payments.

Panionios president Achilleas Beos has accused Mitropoulos and his brother - both of whom have links to Olympiakos - of choosing clubs for relegation and then fixing matches to ensure demotion and promotion issues at the end of recent seasons.

Mitropoulos is to appear in a court case over financial deals ten years ago when he was president of the Egaleo football club. He has denied any wrongdoing.