Giannakopoulos gets 10-month stadium ban and €60,000 fine over Instagram post

The sanction

The sports judge of the Greek basketball league, ESAKE, banned Dimitris Giannakopoulos, owner of Panathinaikos AKTOR, from entering all stadiums for 10 months on 6 November 2026. The ban is provisional. The judge also fined him €60,000 for defamation carried out through his Instagram account.

The sanction followed a complaint filed by Olympiacos over a story Giannakopoulos posted on his personal Instagram account. Sources say the story carried a chant linked to the scandal that has erupted in Greek basketball.

Dimitris Giannakopoulos60,000

Panathinaikos AKTOR30,000

Dimitris Giannakopoulos

60000 EUR

Panathinaikos AKTOR

30000 EUR

Data from the article text

Panathinaikos AKTOR was fined €30,000 for its owner's conduct, on the basis of strict liability.

Olympiacos's account

Olympiacos issued a statement shortly after the decision. It said the judge rejected Giannakopoulos's claim that he did not understand what he had posted. According to the club, he had argued that he removed the post after about an hour, which Olympiacos called false, citing a screenshot showing the post online for at least four hours.

Olympiacos also said the post implied that the club did not want the truth revealed because it was supposedly involved in pending criminal proceedings. It said the story insulted the Olympiacos emblem and its coach. The club added that the phrase 'rigged referees, rigged championships' was never examined in the proceedings, and that claims it had been are false. These are Olympiacos's assertions, as presented in its statement.

The club said that, with Tuesday's penalty removed from the count, Giannakopoulos has now served 29 months of sanctions since June. This statement is Olympiacos's own accounting and is not confirmed by the judge's published decision.

Separate complaint dismissed

The judge also cleared Margarita Thanou, the legal adviser of Panathinaikos, of a separate complaint filed by Olympiacos over statements she made on state television. According to Olympiacos's statement, the judge found that her remarks expressed her personal view of the disputed refereeing decisions in the case. The judge also noted she had said publicly that she had no evidence and that her comments were a personal evaluation.

Panathinaikos's response

Panathinaikos AKTOR is expected to appeal the sanction to ASEAD in order to have it reduced. Reports say the club considers the penalty extreme and believes it has a chance of a reduction. No appeal decision had been reported at the time of publication.