Greek Super League champions Olympiakos could face relegation to the second division, after being implicated in a match-fixing scandal which could have grave consequence for the country's football future.
Olympiakos and Super League president Vangelis Marinakis and Greece international Avraam Papadopoulos are the highest-profile suspects in a match-fixing ring that allegedly reaches across Greek football, although both have since protested their innocence. The Hellenic Football Federation have announced that they have no intention of using Papadopoulos again for national team matters.
Fellow Super League sides Olympiakos Volou, Kavala, Kerkyra and Asteras Tripolis are also being investigated, as well as over half of the teams in the Second Division and some in the third-tier of Greek football.
Appointed prosecutor Andreas Fakos insisted that any club that were found to be involved in the scandal in any way would be punished with demotion, with the criminal charges relating to bribery and betting so far.
"If the clubs are found guilty, then the law provides for relegation," he stated in a radio interview to Sentra FM on Friday.
Ten suspects were arrested and detained earlier in the week.
The investigation began after European football's governing body Uefa published a list of 41 match results from 2009-10 which they believe to be suspicious.
Top defender Avraam Papadopoulos denies any involvement in match-fixing
Among the 68 suspects named by judicial authorities on Friday were Vangelis Marinakis, Greece's top football league official and chairman of champion club Olympiakos Piraeus, and Avraam Papadopoulos, national team and Olympiakos defender.
Both men deny involvement.
Late on Friday, a court order banned all 68 from leaving the country.
Details of the alleged scandal were given in a 130-page document seen by the news agency Associated Press.
It says the document contains numerous transcripts of recorded telephone conversations - many filled with profanities and threats of physical violence - allegedly between corrupt team officials deciding match results, using players and referees.
Bets on the allegedly fixed games were placed online or with betting agencies in Greece, Europe and Asian countries, according to the document, AP say
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