2019–20 Super League Greece
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The 2019–20 Super League Greece was the 84th season of the
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
, the top Greek professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1959. The season marks the first year that the league that included a Play-off Round, whereby the top six teams at the conclusion of the regular season played each other exclusively to determine the league champion. The rest of the teams played each other in a Play-out Round to determine the relegation positions. The season was suspended on 13 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece, then resumed on 5 June 2020. During the championship, the multi-ownership scandal broke out between
PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...
and
Xanthi Xanthi is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi regional unit of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Amphitheatrically built on the foot of Rhodope mountain chain, the city is divided ...
. The ESA (Professional Sports Committee) considered the case serious, which meant the automatic relegation of the two teams. The government brought an extraordinary amendment to the parliament under the pretext of splitting social cohesion. The amendment provided for the deduction of 5 to 10 points from those who violate the law on multi-ownership in Greek football by acquiring shares of another PAE.
Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...
won the championship for the 45th time. They also finished undefeated in the 26 games of the regular season of the league and remained undefeated in the first 7 games of the final phase of the playoffs, until losing the 8th game of the playoffs (0-1 to PAOK). They also achieved a record of the best defence in the regular season with just 9 goals conceded. Xanthi were relegated to Super League 2 after play-off matches, while
Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...
were relegated to the
Gamma Ethniki The Gamma Ethniki (, C National Division) is the Greek football league system, third highest football league in Greece. History The Gamma Ethniki began in 1965 as an amateur championship, while in 1983 it was changed to professional. Although no ...
, while the Super League 2 champion,
PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club (), or with its full name Panipirotikós Athlitikós Síllogos Giánnina (, ''Panepirotic Athletic Club Giannina'') is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Ioannina, the capita ...
and play-off winner, Apollon Smyrnis were promoted.


Multi-ownership PAOK - Xanthi

In December 2019, Olympiacos appealed to the Professional Sports Committee to clarify the relationship between PAOK and Xanthi after TV channel One (owned by Marinakis) reported that the Cypriot company RfA that had acquired Xanthi's assets (stadium and training center) appeared to be "linked" to Ivan Savvidis' nephew, Ioannis Kalpazidis. The Professional Sports Committee accepted the evidence presented by Olympiacos and decided to recommend to the competent judicial body the revocation of both PAOK's and Xanthi's certificates of participation in the championship and, consequently, their exclusion from the championship. PCS referred the case to the sports judge and asked for the penalty of relegation. The Deputy Sports Minister, Lefteris Avgenakis, commented negatively on the prospect of relegation. The management of PAOK and their supporters were outraged by the decision, accusing Avgenakis of methodically setting up the committee, while protests and negative statements were also made by related individuals and organisations. For instance, former player and presidend of PAOK, Theodoros Zagorakis, who was MEP for ND at the time, was expelled from the parliamentary Eurogroup when he threatened to become independent if the decisions of the PCS were accepted. The Greek government, afraid of a generalised reaction and as PAOK fans had started a series of protests, submitted an amendment on 6 February 2020 in order to prevent the sports judge's ruling. It changed the penalty for multiple ownership by abolishing relegation and imposing a deduction of 5 to 10 points. The amendment was passed with 156 votes in favour, while the parties the
Movement for Change The Gorran Movement (, ''Movement for Change'') or just Gorran (''Change'') is a Kurds in Iraq, Kurdish political party in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The party is led by Dana Ahmed Majid, it was formerly under the leadership of Omar Said ...
, KKE,
Greek Solution The Greek Solution () is a political party in Greece founded by Kyriakos Velopoulos. The party is Right-wing politics, right-wing to Far-right politics, far-right and has been described as ideologically Ultranationalism, ultranationalist, Nationa ...
and
MeRA25 The European Realistic Disobedience Front (), or MeRA25 (), is a left-wing Greek political party founded in 2018. Its founder and General Secretary is former Syriza MP and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. MeRa25 is part of the Democracy in E ...
abstained from the vote in protest of the legislation, which was rushed through in order to serve certain interests. The disciplinary committee of the HFF decided to punish PAOK and Xanthi by deducting 7 points from the former and 12 from the latter. However, both Olympiacos and PAOK appealed to CAS against the decision of the HFF, with Olympiacos requesting the relegation of the latter and PAOK seeking their acquittal After both appeals, CAS decided that the 7 points should be returned to PAOK and referred the case back to the Appeals Committee of the HFF with the footnote that it should decide on the merits of the case without being bound by the conclusion of the CSP. Eventually, on 9 February 2021, PAOK were fully acquitted by a decision of the Appeals Committee of the HFF. For Xanthi, however, there was no change in the decision, as the team did not appeal to the CAS.


Teams

Fourteen teams competed in the league – the top twelve teams from the previous season, the previous season's play-off winner and one team promoted from the
Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
. The promoted team was
Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...
. They replaced
PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club (), or with its full name Panipirotikós Athlitikós Síllogos Giánnina (, ''Panepirotic Athletic Club Giannina'') is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Ioannina, the capita ...
, Levadiakos (both teams relegated after eight seasons in the league) and Apollon Smyrnis (relegated after two seasons in the top flight).


Stadiums and locations

:''Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.''


Personnel, kits and TV channel


Managerial changes


Regular season


League table


Results


Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. To preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards.


Play-off round

The top six teams from Regular season will meet twice (10 matches per team) for places in
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and
2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United i ...
as well as deciding the league champion.


Play-off round positions by round


Play-out round


Play-out round positions by round


Relegation play-offs

, +Summary ''Apollon Smyrnis won 4–1 on aggregate and were promoted to 2020–21 Super League. Xanthi were relegated to 2020–21 Super League 2.''


Season statistics


Top scorers


Top assists


Awards


NIVEA MEN Player of the Month


NIVEA MEN Player of the Club


NIVEA MEN Player of the Regular season


NIVEA MEN Best Goal of the Regular season


NIVEA MEN Best Goal


Annual awards

Annual awards were announced on 16 February 2021.


Average attendances

Average ticket sales counted officially without games played behind closed doors from
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
. According to the complaint, Ioannis Kalpazidis, the representative of the Cypriot company RfA, which bought the assets of Xanthis FC, is allegedly the nephew of Ivan Savvidis. The complainant added that this person, who worked as a waiter, paid 10 million euros for this purchase. Olympiacos also complained that members of the board of directors of FC Xanthi were also on the board of directors of the RfA. XANTHI FC was imposed an additional deduction of 5 points for non-updated share register.


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Super League Greece, 2019-20
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A1 Ethniki The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the Hellenic Basketball Associat ...
A1 Ethniki The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the Hellenic Basketball Associat ...
2019-20 Association football events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic