GREECE: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Two cash-strapped soccer clubs turn to the sex industry to finance their teams

Record ID: 254880

  • Title: GREECE: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Two cash-strapped soccer clubs turn to the sex industry to finance their teams
  • Date: 23rd October 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF IRAKLIS FC PLAYERS TALKING TO ESCORT GIRLS INSIDE BAR
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA45IUA2DQC00P5XXM0HVE8GDA6
  • Story Text: As debt-stricken Greece continues its efforts to make austerity cuts in order to secure the next rescue loan instalment and avoid bankruptcy, two soccer clubs in the city of Larissa have turned to what many call 'the world's oldest profession' to obtain the much needed funds that keep the clubs afloat and allow them to participate in the league this season.
    Voukefalas Larissa, an amateur club founded by a group of soccer fans in 2004, caused a stir not only in their city of 200,000, but all around Greece when they agreed a sponsorship deal with the owner of the two most famous brothels in Larissa, and now play in a pink kit with the brothels' logos imprinted on them.
    The team's president, Yannis Batziolas, says that in the past he managed to keep the team in the amateur league by funding it through his business, a travel agency, but as Greece entered its fifth year of recession the financial burden was too much. Batziolas said the club needs 10,000 euros annually to pay for kit, travel costs and other operational expenses.
    "This year things have become very difficult financially as in the rest of Greece and the crisis has hit amateur soccer," Batziolas told Reuters Television. "In the previous two years I have supported the team through my private business.
    "This year, however, I realised that the situation was very difficult, and together with the other managers, we decided to seek any kind of financial support so that we could participate in the league."
    The new sponsorship is provided by Chryssoula Alevridou, owner of 'Villa Erotica' and 'Oikos Epochis Soula' or, 'Soula's House', the two local brothels. Alevridou, known to everyone in Larissa as Mrs Soula, is a stocky 67-year-old grandmother who owns the two luxury brothels in Larissa and a third one in the seaside city of Patras.
    The sponsorship by Alevridou did not only pay for the kit but also sparked new enthusiasm amongst the players.
    "It has given us a boost, we are excited and it's mostly about the humour, although there is a financial aspect to it as these are difficult times and no one is helping amateur soccer," said Voukefalas striker Vangelis Charoulis. "Regardless of Mrs. Soula's profession it is a nice initiative."
    The sale of season tickets also increased as supporters hoped to enjoy discounts at the brothels.
    "The raunchy side of this is that everyone wanted to buy season tickets so they could receive 'services' at Mrs Soula's business," Batziolas explained. "She promised the players special treatment for every win they could manage at her establishment where she is a hostess."
    Alevridou said her main aim was to help he team.
    "All of this is out of my love for these kids, sports, culture and for my country," Alevridou said. "If no one is giving them money, shouldn't someone do it? What does it matter if it's a brothel? So what if this is a brothel?"
    The pink kit has caused some controversy among local league organisers who forbade the team from wearing it during official matches, on the grounds that the shirts violated 'sport ideals'. The club wears the kit during training and has appealed against the uniform ban and awaits a decision this week.
    "Let them ban the shirts," Alevridou said. "I will help the team. And I will find the way not only to be their sponsor but appear as their sponsor and let them (the league officials) do whatever they want."
    Voukefalas, named after Alexander the Great's horse, is not the only ailing club to sign a deal with an unusual sponsor. Iraklis FC, a fellow local team and one of the oldest in Larissa, is sponsored by a female escort bar. The club has 32 players and runs an academy with 120 youngsters. Their basic operational expenses run up to 25,000 euros a year.
    Iraklis FC has six sponsors in total, but the 'Pinakothiki All Day Bar' - an escort club, is their main sponsor and doles out the cash the club needs to participate in the league.
    "Now we have a somewhat similar sponsor to Mrs Soula," said Iraklis FC president, Nikos Philippou. "Why? Because there is no money."
    The escort bar is located in the suburb of Neapoli in Larissa, home to Iraklis FC. The owner, George Sibiloglou, has been making his living in that neighbourhood for more than 10 years and decided that now was the time to step in and help his local team by providing money and entertainment to the players.
    Sibiloglou explained the lottery betting fund OPAP cannot help support the team, which is usually the case with other soccer clubs in Greece, so he stepped in.
    "Since OPAP is not helping, we are," he said. "We will take them out to bouzoukia, they will have fun with the girls, everything. Whatever they like."
    Bouzoukia are night clubs that play traditional Greek music accompanied by a Greek instrument called a bouzouki.
    On Saturday (October 20) Voukefalas and Iraklis FC played against each other with Iraklis winning 2-0. Christos Megas, the team's captain, celebrated the victory at the 'Pinakothiki' escort club surrounded by the girls.
    "He (Sibiloglou) promised us pleasant and entertaining nights here with the girls, with drinks and so on," Megas said.
    Another soccer team in the town of Trikala is being sponsored by a funeral home and has black crosses on its uniforms, but refused to be filmed.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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