Olympiacos soccer club chief faces charges

The chairman of Olympiakos soccer club, Vangelis Marinakis, and the team’s vice-chairman Savvas Theodoridis were on Wednesday charged over their alleged actions at the Greek Cup final against Asteras Tripolis in May.

A prosecutor that deals with sports matters, Aristidis Koreas, decided that the two men should face misdemeanor charges for entering the locker room used by the referee and his assistants at halftime.

Under Hellenic Football Federation rules nobody is allowed to enter the referee’s dressing room at halftime.

Olympiakos expressed surprise at the news of the charges and said in a statement that the match officials had repeatedly stated to authorities that the Piraeus club executives only intended to wish the referee good luck.

Olympiakos won the game 3-1 to clinch a league and cup double.