Filenews 19 February 2025
Although the presidents and representatives of the four major clubs – companies that met yesterday with the Commissioner of Taxation did not make public statements about the outcome of the new consultation with Sotiris Markides, the information that exists leads to the conclusion that APOEL, Apollon, Anorthosis and AEL will have to find by the end of March several hundred thousand euros each to pay the debts they created after they agreed to pay instalments to reduce the previous debts.
Otherwise, they will be prosecuted before the courts and will also be exposed to UEFA, with the risk of being excluded from European competitions or even having painful scoring consequences in the Cypriot championship.
Pending official information, the available information converges to the conclusion that the Government announced yesterday, through the Commissioner of Taxation, that it will not back down and will not accept to be paid a symbolic amount against approximately €5 million that the four clubs have created so far, after the start of the state's latest repayment plan.
In essence, what was reported yesterday to the clubs constitutes the position – decision of the Minister of Finance Makis Keravnos regarding the management of the issue from now on. What was stressed to the leaders of the four clubs – Ethnikos Achna was eventually represented – is that they will not avoid being brought to justice and will not receive a certificate of compliance with UEFA criteria if they do not pay very respectable amounts to the Tax Department by the end of March. The amount requested by the state must be paid within 40-45 days to avoid proceeding with criminal charges. The debt exceeds one million euros for each of them, with Anorthosis reportedly owing, due to debts after the last repayment plan, about €600,000.
It is not known how the four clubs or others, which owe far less money but are in the same, perhaps worse, inability to meet the state's demands within weeks, will react.
In the past few days, union and corporate presidents have publicly declared their intention to repay the debts accumulated, starting with a small part of the debts caused by their refusal to pay their current obligations, following the latest agreement with the Ministry of Finance under the current administration. The amount that the clubs wanted to pay in order to suspend criminal proceedings and give them a gratuitous certificate of compliance with UEFA criteria was deemed insufficient by the Ministry of Finance, hence yesterday's new ultimatum, through the Commissioner of Taxation.
They demand a political decision
It is likely that the affected unions – companies will fight the last battle in the coming days, demanding again a meeting with the President of the Republic, in the hope that they will persuade him to ask for a stay of criminal prosecutions and a new settlement, in order to significantly reduce the amounts requested by the Tax Department to reintegrate them into the current – for other clubs – repayment plan.
It is also likely that the CFA leadership will take relevant initiatives – at a political level – to intensify pressure on the President for a political decision, which, however, is likely to impose political costs on the Government, given its previous assurances to citizens that the legislation will apply to all debtors.
The chances that these clubs will be able to raise sums of around or over a million to avoid the big adventures are rather limited. Even the revenues that APOEL expects in the near future, from its successful participation so far in a European competition, are not certain to be able to satisfy the pressing demands of the Tax Department.
