The death of a police officer after a clash with hooligans outside a hall where a women's volleyball match was being played in December 2023 shook Greece and prompted authorities to announce a decisive crackdown on the violence and crime that have plagued its sport for decades.
Police have launched investigations not only into the circumstances that led to the death of Giorgos Lingeridis, but also into the links between violent fans and criminal groups, which are believed to have further fueled the aggression, writes Reuters.
While the vast majority of sports fans in Greece are peaceful, evidence gathered by police and seen by Reuters shows that the most ardent fans, who follow their clubs across sports, have been involved in drug trafficking or linked to gangs that extort money from businesses and set fires.
"These gangs used sport as an alibi," Sports Minister Yannis Vrutsis told Reuters. "They used the clubs as a front for criminal activities."
Police have arrested dozens of people so far, with the most recent arrests occurring this week.
The hierarchical structure and discipline of fan groups “created the conditions for criminal organizations to develop within them,” said Supreme Court prosecutor Georgiya Adilini. Police officials told Reuters that criminal gangs could form within fan groups or infiltrate them to sell drugs or recruit new members.
The investigation showed that on December 7, 2023, fans of the Olympiacos football club carried a bag containing flares and improvised explosive devices from the stadium's storage room to the venue of a women's volleyball derby with Panathinaikos.
"We will kill you!" the crowd shouted, according to the prosecution, during the attack on the police in which Lingeridis was fatally shot by a flare.
A Greek court last month convicted a 20-year-old Olympiacos fan of manslaughter and sentenced him to life in prison.
Lingeridis' mother, Evgenia Stratou, said her son had no idea he could be in such danger.
"There was nothing spontaneous that day. They were organized and coordinated."
Accusations against fans
In a separate investigation, dozens of Olympiacos fans have been charged with forming a criminal group, racketeering street vendors, illegal possession of weapons and organizing an attack. All have denied the charges, their lawyers said. The football team's official fan club, Gate 7, condemned the attack and said it had never incited violence.
The investigation has also included the club's highest structures, and Evangelos Marinakis, the president of Olympiacos, is expected to appear in court in the coming months along with four members of the board of directors.
They face misdemeanor charges related to inciting sports-related violence and aiding a criminal group.
Marinakis and other board members deny any wrongdoing or knowledge of criminal activity. Marinakis' lawyers declined to comment to Reuters, but have previously called the allegations "completely unfounded." Olympiacos said it consistently takes a firm stance against all forms of violence.
Gate 7 member Akis Vardalakis (58) called the case a “witch hunt” by the government. However, he acknowledged that there has been a noticeable increase in aggression in the sports environment. “Fanfare is a mirror of society,” he said.
Racketeering and drugs
Police in July 2024 broke up a criminal group that had been extorting money from at least 76 restaurants and nightclubs in Athens. According to police documents, the gang was allegedly also hired by Panathinaikos fans to attack their own club's supporters in a fight for control.
The only legal Panathinaikos fan club, PALEFIP, condemns all violence and thoroughly vets new members, said president Gerasimos Menegatos. He declined to comment on the racketeering case.
In December 2024, a group importing cocaine and cannabis from Spain was dismantled. The group's main members allegedly included fans of the AEK football club, who had previously been involved in violence and robberies, according to the documents.
According to Reuters, the group imported around 2020 tons of cannabis and 2021 kilograms of cocaine between 1,4 and 30 alone, with estimated profits of more than seven million euros.
Giorgos Katsadimas, legal representative of the AEK fans' club, said the case does not concern the fan club itself, but several individuals who also support the team. The official fan club condemns any form of violence, and its members are not involved in any illegal activities, he stressed.
Last month, police arrested 24 people in Thessaloniki, suspected of being fans of the PAOK football club, on charges of selling drugs at matches.
"The alleged criminal group, which included some random PAOK fans, but also people who have nothing to do with sports, has absolutely no connection with the PAOK football team, nor with its fan club," said lawyer Ilias Gkindis, who represents the fan club.
Members of the official fan club have nothing to do with illegal activities. "These are people who are passionate about sports and believe that crime, especially drug-related crime, has no place in a fan club or in sports fandom," he added.
Reuters writes that the Greek judicial system has several preparatory stages and that filing an indictment does not necessarily mean that someone will be brought to trial.
The legacy of the debt crisis
Older fans say they have noticed an increase in aggression after the 2009-2018 debt crisis, which left the younger generation jobless and with few prospects.
“The fan scene has always been a hybrid space,” said Anastasija Cukala, an analyst of security and violence in sports, and former associate professor of criminology.
According to her, a young person can develop additional forms of belonging within a fan group and, in a desire to belong more deeply, advance in its hierarchy, or find a way to survive, may be pushed into crime.
Greece has reduced the number of legal fan groups from several dozen to just eight in recent years, increased security measures at stadiums and toughened penalties for clubs and hooligans.
Since February 2024, around 96 football matches have been played without spectators, and authorities have imposed fines on clubs totalling around one million euros, according to government sources.
Police are monitoring around 300 "high-risk" fans at each major club, a police source told Reuters.
Minister Vrucis says the reforms have been successful, while analysts say the fighting has merely moved outside the stadium. Police figures show that around 700 cases of sports-related crime are recorded annually. Critics and victims of violence say much more needs to be done.
"Unlike other European countries, Greece has never adopted primary prevention. We have never seriously engaged in analyzing the profiles of perpetrators with the aim of long-term suppression of this type of crime. We have focused exclusively on repression," says Cukala.
Among those advocating for change is Aristidis Kampanos, who entered politics after his son Alkis was stabbed to death in February 2022 in Thessaloniki. In August 2023, fan Michalis Katsouris was stabbed to death during hooligan riots in Athens.
"The cleanup I want is not just the state's job. We all need to participate, including club presidents and fans," says Kampanos.
The sport must be returned "to the hands of families, true fans and those who truly love football," he concluded.
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