ATHENS (Reuters) – The Greek Cup final between AEK Athens and PAOK has become a major source of headache for the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) as the location of the showpiece match has yet to be decided even though it is due to take place on May 24.
The Greek FA failed to find a suitable stadium at home, prompting them to search for venues further afield, including in Cyprus, Britain and Poland.
The EPO said it had shorlisted two venues and a final decision would be announced on May 12.
An AEK-PAOK fixture is considered high risk for crowd trouble.
Cyprus turned down a request from the Greek FA in April, citing public security concerns, Cyprus police said.
The mayor of Sosnowiec, Arkadiusz Checinski, in Poland, said on Facebook the issue was under discussion.
“Indeed, talks have been ongoing for several days,” he said.
EPO blamed its struggle to find a suitable venue in Greece on a “coordinated attempt to prevent the hosting of Cup final under the pretext of fan violence for which EPO bears no responsibility.”
(Reporting by Michele Kambas in Nicosia, Karolos Grohmann in Berlin, Karol Badohal in Warsaw and Renee Maltezou in Athens, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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