19.08.2020 22:29 h

Olympiakos calls Greek federation 'incompetent'

Olympiakos blasted the Greek football federation as "incompetent" on Wednesday for deciding that the Greek Cup final against AEK Athens on August 30 will be contested with players from the 2019-2020 squads.

"The most incompetent Greek football federation of all time continues to humiliate Greek football undisturbed," said a statement from the Piraeus side.

Olympiakos said the federation "defied the strong and continuous recommendations of FIFA and UEFA to hold the cup final before August 2, as the postponement of the final after this date was illegal and contrary to the regulations."

"A decision that once again hinders the proper preparation of the teams for the domestic season, but daily for the European competitions, in order for our country to fall further in the European ranking," Olympiakos said.

The team called for the immediate intervention of the Greek government and the worldwide federations "so that these dangerous people for football can finally be removed."

AEK has not commented on the decision.

The decision by the Greek federation means that both Olympiakos and AEK will play the final without some of their key players who have left.

Furthermore, new players that signed after the regular season had ended are ineligible to play.

Liverpool recently signed top Olympiakos defender Kostas Tsimikas.

Other players that have left the Greek champions were Norwegian defender Omar Elabdellaoui, who went to Turkish side Galatasaray, Portuguese defender Bruno Gaspar who returned to Sporting and Greek striker Lazaros Christodoulopoulos who quit the club.

AEK will be without the services of Belgian forward Victor Klonaridis who went to Cypriot club APOEL, Swedish defender Niklas Hult, who left the squad, and Greek international goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas who went to Celtic.