The trial of Olympiakos chairman Evangelos Marinakis, who also owns Nottingham Forest, began in Athens on Wednesday alongside 142 football fans in a landmark case targeting sports-related violence. The defendants face charges including running a criminal organisation and causing life-threatening explosions at sporting events, which they deny.
Marinakis and four other board members are accused of supporting the alleged criminal group between 2019 and 2024 and inciting violence through public statements against authorities. They have dismissed the charges as groundless. Marinakis was not present in court and was represented by his lawyer, while masked police officers guarded a few defendants still in detention.
Over 210 witnesses are expected to testify before the three-member bench, and lawyers estimate the trial could last more than a year. The case stems from a crackdown on hooliganism, which has long plagued Greek sport and drawn concern from UEFA.
The investigation was triggered by the fatal injury of riot police officer George Lyngeridis in 2023 during clashes outside a women's volleyball match between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos. Fans moved a bag of flares and explosives from a football stadium to the volleyball venue, and Lyngeridis was hit by a flare, dying weeks later. His death was the third sports-related fatality in Greece in 2022-2023, prompting prosecutors to urge tougher action against criminal gangs linked to sport.
