Panathinaikos basketball club owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos has been banned from sporting venues for 10 months and fined 60,000 euros by a Greek sports judge.
The sanction against Giannakopoulos followed an online post targeting rivals Olympiacos, while Panathinaikos was also fined 30,000 euros over the same incidents.
Rival club Olympiacos released an official briefing shortly after the announcement, pointing out that the latest penalty brings Giannakopoulos to a cumulative total of 29 months of venue bans accumulated since June.
Social media post and rejected defence
The disciplinary ruling was delivered by the sports judge of the Hellenic Basketball Clubs Association, the organisation known as ESAKE that oversees the top professional league in Greece. The disciplinary case stemmed from remarks Giannakopoulos published on his personal Instagram account.
According to the official statement from Olympiacos, Giannakopoulos implied in his post that the Piraeus club was not interested in uncovering the truth because it was supposedly involved in a pending criminal case that has dominated Greek basketball in recent weeks. The sports judge also sanctioned the Panathinaikos president for insulting the Olympiacos club emblem and the team head coach.
Giannakopoulos argued in his defence that he did not realise what he had posted and had deleted the message after an hour. The sports judge dismissed that explanation as false after Olympiacos presented screenshot evidence showing the post had stayed online for at least four hours.
Dismissal of television referee complaint
The sports judge also ruled on a related complaint lodged against an individual named in court documents as Ms Thanou. The judge acquitted Thanou after evaluating statements she made during an appearance on Greek state television.
The court found that Thanou was expressing her personal stance regarding controversial refereeing decisions in the dispute. The sports judge noted that Thanou had already stated publicly on television that she possessed no evidence and was offering only an evaluation of her own.
Olympiacos clarified in its briefing that claims that the phrase rigged referees equal rigged championships formed part of the judicial examination were incorrect. The club emphasised that the phrase was never an object of the trial and was not examined by the sports judge.
Planned appeal and club rivalry
Panathinaikos announced following the verdict that the club will challenge the 10-month ban by filing an appeal with the Supreme Council for Resolution of Sports Disputes, Greece's highest sports arbitration body, known as ASEAD.
Giannakopoulos issued his own response to Olympiacos later that evening, stating publicly that the difference between the two rival teams in free throws remained greater.
Panathinaikos, located in Athens, and Olympiacos, based in the neighbouring port city of Piraeus, contest one of the fiercest rivalries in European basketball. Both teams regularly compete for Greek league titles and the EuroLeague crown, and their encounters are frequently marked by high administrative tension.
Disciplinary authorities in Greek basketball have frequently sanctioned officials from both institutions in recent seasons. Venue bans prohibit club executives from entering playing courts, team locker rooms, and VIP seating sections during domestic league matches.
