Olympiakos FC ends OPAP sponsorship agreement
Emma Delta's acquisition of 33% stake in national monopoly triggers football club rivalry row
Greek football club Olympiakos has ended its sponsorship agreement with the country’s gambling monopoly OPAP following its privatisation.
Equity fund Emma Delta acquired the Greek government’s 33% in the company earlier this year, and is 33% owned by Greek businessman Yorgos Melissanidis, whose father Dimitris Melissanidis recently took control of rival club AEK Athens.
AEK Athens disbanded its professional football team at the end of last season in a bid to rid the club of spiralling debt, only to be taken over by the elder Melissanidis ““ who also runs Greece’s second biggest oil company Aegean Marine Petrolum and who has since pledged to return the club to its former glory.
InsideWorldFootball reports that OPAP’s subsequent sponsorship offer for the now-third division club AEK of €1.9m has angered first division Olympiakos, which currently receives €2.1m.
Olympiakos has since requested that its contract with OPAP to be annulled, with OPAP’s board said to be willing to seek a friendly settlement.
OPAP is a major sponsor of both the Hellenic Football Federation and the two professional tiers of domestic football in Greece.