It was July 9, 2008 when Spyros Kalogiannis took over as president of the second national team, which was renamed the Football League, succeeding the late Petros Theodoridis. After eight years in office, in July 2016, he passed the baton to Stelios Sfakianakis, whose experience in both the GGA and the former EPAE proved insufficient for success. In just three months, he learned that leading the second-ranked football division in Greece is a permanent pocket.

So, in October 2016, he resigned under the weight of “distrust” of his personality on the part of the PAE majority. The reason was the inability to find sponsors and television coverage of the league, which, after 2011 and the Coriopolis scandal, suffered greatly in terms of its credibility.

The reasons, as now, are those of his successor, Leonidas Leitsakos, who, after six years in office, announced his resignation for approximately the same reasons, of course, deeper.

After all, the now discredited Super League 2 has a privilege that does not go unnoticed in the beautiful world of Greek football, where backstory has played and always plays a paramount role: one vote on the board of the EPO. So his control was and will be welcomed by anyone who wants to keep the reins of government or who tries to become caliph in the place of the caliph …

Loaded with debts of “big”

And yet, all these years, the financial problems of the small category were not born overnight. When the EPAE was dissolved in 2006 and the Super League (A’national) and Football League (B’national) were created as separate cooperatives, the former did not pay off the debts created by the former EPAE, which amounted to approximately 16 million euros. . SL, by statute, was required to provide FL with an amount to pay off these debts, which was only done in the first two years.
The little league that took on the debts of the former EPAE along the way found itself paying off specific debts completely abandoned by the “big” ones, whose revenues increased every year from television rights and sponsorship.

Financial collapse was not long in coming, despite the efforts of the new administration and the reduction in the league’s operating costs.

At the same time, the prestige of the category that has been and is still gathering the majority of Greek footballers has been shattered every Sunday by continuous suspicious games detected by UEFA’s contracted betting fraud detection company Sportradar. .

… the gun fired

Teams with a rich history (AEL, Panachaiki, Kalamata, Panserraikos, Veria, Chania), also representing key groups, have found in recent years that their only source of income is ERT, which, under government pressure, bought the rights to this category. And although during the periods of 2019–20, 2020–21, Super League 2 managed to survive thanks to the presence of only 12 teams in its league, with a restructuring plan put in place by the Deputy Minister of Sports Lefteris Avgenakis from the period of 2021. -22, the last episode of the drama was played.

The absorption of the 3rd national team and the creation of two groups of 17 teams each led to the fact that the gun “burst”.
Although the main goal of the project was to consolidate the category by setting strict eligibility criteria, in practice it proved to be unfeasible.

Expenditures were reduced and expenses were, on the contrary, increased as just for the letter of guarantee that each PAE had to submit to participate in the league, they needed €150,000 from the previous season’s €30,000, and the required share capital increased to 350,000 euros from 50,000 euros.

“Scissors” put an end

This year’s championship, like the previous two, started in November to close the agreement with ERT on television, as well as to resolve unresolved legal issues. A deal worth 3.3 million euros, 1 million less than in the 2021/22 season. The hopes and expectations of all teams were linked to the tax share of the rate, which, based on the original MLA, was 8.7 million euros, corresponding to 290,000 euros for each PAE. A week later, by a new ministerial decision, the amount was cut to 5.1 million euros, however, the Super League 1 request for the same amount as last year (22 million euros, corresponding to 1.5 million euros for each PAE). led to new “scissors” that reached 1.7 million euros (70,000 euros for each team)!

Planning for the Minors, who once again saw the big division bite out of their mouths, went well, and the decision to suspend the championship seemed like a one-way street.

For a month the ball did not roll on the grass and the remake was played again. The resignation of the previous president leaves new hopes that with the new situation that will develop, there will be a financial push with which the year will go wrong.

And next year? We will see again next year. Out of 30 groups, it can become 20 or 15 or 12 again, the criteria for participation can be changed, new laws can be established. However, it is obvious that if the state and other football bodies (EPO, Superleague 1) do not radically change their attitude towards this category, we will not see anything new. The championship will drag on, it will be at the epicenter of a hurricane of fixed games and 80% of the Greek footballers who are in its bosom will face a serious problem of survival.