FIFA DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE
1. Diogo Rodrigues Siston 2. Ricardo Matias Veron 3. Ricardo William
Faty 4. Pele Frimpong 5. Vedran Muratovic 6. Marcelo Damiano 7.
Pantelis Kafes 8. Nikolaos Arampatzis 9. Alexandros Perogamvrakis
10. Lampros Kefaloukos 11. Efthimios Koulocheris 12. Grigorios
Papazacharias 13. Emmanouil Papasterianos 14. Michail Kyrgias 15.
Stylianos Tsoukanis 16. Kostas Kapetanos 17. Minas Iosipou 18.
Efstathios Rokas 19. Athanasios Pindonis 20. Georgios Lampropoulos
21. Fotios Papanikolaou 22. Miltiadis Mitropoulos 23. Andreas Chysa
24. Georgios Souloganis 25. Ioannis Chloros 26. Dimitrios Geladaris
27. Theodoros Pakaltsis 28. Pier Kalagkanis 29. Christos Bourbos 30.
Nikolaos Galas
(Complainants)
v
HELLENIC FOOTBALL FEDERATION
(Respondent)
Statement of Complaint
In the memory of Nikos Tsoumanis...
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. PARTIES ........................................................................................................................................- 3 -
II. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.........................................................................................................- 5 -
III. INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................- 6 -
IV. PROCEDURAL ISSUES..............................................................................................................- 8 -
A. The Jurisdiction of FIFA Disciplinary Committee..........................................................- 8 -
B. The Applicable Law............................................................................................................. - 13 -
V. COMPLAINANT’S SUBMISSIONS ......................................................................................... - 14 -
A. The Greek overview of sporting succession. The disregard of FIFA Regulations by
the Hellenic Football Federation ..................................................................................... - 14 -
B. The core principle of uniformity and equal treatment within the football family- 27 -
VI. CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................... - 40 -
VII. REQUEST FOR RELIEF........................................................................................................... - 42 -
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I. PARTIES
1. The Complainants in these proceedings are (former) professional football players of
different nationalities who are called to face the very same situation regarding the (legal)
treatment of sporting succession in Greece and the complete disregard of FIFA regulatory
framework by the Hellenic Football Federation. In details, all of the Complainants used to
play in different Greek football clubs while the latter in mala fide decided (in variant sporting
seasons) to run into bankruptcy regime and establish a “new football club” for to circumvent
their financial liabilities. As such, the Complainants have formed an unofficial union in order
to seek on legal protection and pursuit the retrieve of their respective credits collectively.
They have decided to establish such an “unofficial” union (as their ultimate option) given
that they have not enjoyed any substantial legal aid from the Professional Football Players’
Association of Greece (PSAP). On the contrary, the latter has remained quite passive and
inactive during the past decade while the Greek clubs (with the “blessings” of HFF) have
adopted and abused such a pattern in order to circumvent their financial obligations.
Therefore, PSAP has clearly contributed (even slightly and indirectly) to the deterioration
of “sporting succession” situation in Greece and the complete violation of players’ rights
and interests by the respective Greek football clubs.
2. The present Complaint is lodged in the memory of Nikos Tsoumanis, a former
colleague and teammate of some of us, who committed suicide on 5th of October
2021 in the light of his excessive financial difficulties. Just for the records, Mr.
Tsoumanis was also facing similar difficulties as the football club he used to play for, was
relegated into amateur divisions and created a new Football Société Anonyme in order to
circumvent the payment of his financial liabilities. Following his suicide, the owner and
president of PAE Aris Thessalonikis (Mr. Theodoros Karypidis) decided to pay (as an
exception) the monies owned to the family of the player. (Exhibit 1)
3. The Respondent in these proceedings is the Hellenic Football Federation, a Member
Association of FIFA.
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4. All the correspondence for the Complainants in connection with these proceedings shall
be directed to their legal representatives (for whom proof of representation is provided as
(Exhibit 2) at the following address:
Mr. Kosmas Mitsios
Str. Gerontos Paisiou 3, P.B. 305, Thessaloniki,Greece
Email: kosmasmitsios@outlook.com.gr
Georgios Panagopoulos
Str. Favierou 47, Athens, Greece
Email: panagopoulosathlos@gmail.com
5. The Respondent’s contacts details are the following:
Address: Goudi Park, Post Box 14161, Postal Code 11510, Athens, Greece
Emails: info@epo.gr
