Football supporters’ clubs will be shut down in Greece for five months as part of a crackdown announced on Monday, triggered by the murder of a 19-year-old who was stabbed and beaten to death by football hooligans in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
The Feb. 1 murder of Thessaloniki resident Alkis Kambanos has shocked the city and football fans nationwide ‒ in a country that has struggled to tame sport-related violence and corruption for decades.
Ten people have been arrested in connection with the attack.
Takis Theodorikakos, a minister for public order, said the new measures would include tougher jail terms and sentencing guidelines for organized sport-related violence, adding that supporters clubs would be allowed to reopen only after July 31 following an extensive review of the operation rules and the introduction of a new operating framework.
“Hooliganism is a global scourge that is responsible for the death of dozens of people. We must join forces, the government, political parties, football teams, and players. No one has the right to be absent from this effort to confront the violence,” Theodorikakos said.
The new measures will require parliamentary approval but are likely to receive broad political support beyond the government’s comfortable majority.
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