Greek football refs on strike against violence

No one was injured in the attack, police said, as the attackers broke a window and threw a lighted torch into the VAR assistant referee’s house just hours after Pedro Martins’s team tied 0-0 at Volos’s home, in a match that ended with the visitors complaining about the referee team and the VAR.

The incident led to a reaction from the Greek referees, who announced a strike for the weekend of 4-5 January, as a protest against the attack.

After the game, Olympiacos criticised the “bad refereeing” and filed a complaint against the match’s five referees, accusing them of corruption and bribery. The Piraeus club also contacted UEFA and FIFA, alleging the referees acted deliberately and with malicious intent affecting the outcome of the match in which the VAR was used.

Although the Greek Federation has stated that it “firmly condemns the new mafia-type attack on a Superleague referee”, it has also announced that it has suspended the five referees, two from the pitch and three from the VAR, while awaiting the end of the inquiry.