Greek Super League scraps expansion plan
The Greek Super League has scrapped its proposal to expand the top flight from 16 to 18 teams, the league said on Friday.
League officials had announced on Tuesday that they intended to put forward a plan to increase the number to solve the problem of selecting which clubs would take the places of Olympiakos Volos and Kavala who were both demoted to Greece's second tier in July for their involvement in match-fixing.
But after an emergency executive committee meeting it was announced the number of teams will remain at 16 as the 14 clubs currently competing could not agree on the expansion.
"One of the many problems was that it would have been a temporary solution," Super League President Apostolos Papoutsakis told reporters.
"The Hellenic Federation agreed on having 18 teams but then we would have to balance it back to 16 within two seasons, meaning five teams would have to be relegated. This was not something which could be agreed on due to technical problems and economic issues."
The situation means there are two places in the Super League still to be filled with seven rounds of matches already played. The second and third divisions are yet to kick off as a result until it is confirmed which clubs will compete in the top flight.
The Super League will convene again on Saturday to resolve the question of whether to incorporate the two relegated teams from last season, Larissa and Panserraikos, or the fourth and fifth from last season's second division, Levadiakos and Doxa Dramas.
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