Athens, Dec 04: The last stumbling block to finding a venue for the Athens 2004 Olympic football final was overcome when the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) turned over control of a key stadium to the Greek government. For weeks the international Olympic committee and the worldwide soccer governing body FIFA have been pressuring the Athens Olympics Organising Committee (ATHOC) to find a stadium to host the finals after a number of venues were turned down.
Yesterday's decision clears the way for the Karaiskaki Stadium, located in the Athens seaside suburb of Faliron, to be taken over by the general secretariat of sports. Culture minister Evangelos Venizelos, whose ministry is in charge of sports, had said that if the HOC had given over control of the stadium to the government, then it would provide the facility for the use of Greek first division club Olympiakos.
Olympiakos, which had used the stadium as its home grounds for decades until switching to the Athens Olympic Stadium in recent years, said it would refurbish the stadium with its own funds and make it available for the Olympic final. If the stadium is ready, the ATHOC had said it would like to use it to host the final as no other venues in the capital were suitable.
During the Athens Olympics the men's and women's soccer competition will be hosted in Athens as well as four other cities - Volos, Heraklion, Salonika and Patras. Bureau Report