Greek basketball federation schedules leadership elections for 20 December after Liolios exit

The board's decision

The Hellenic Basketball Federation (EOK) announced on 27 October that its board will hold elections on Sunday, 20 December 2026, to choose a new leadership. The decision followed a meeting with Deputy Minister of Sport Ioannis Vroutsis and Secretary General of Sport Georgios Mavrotas, according to the federation's statement. The board said the vote will follow the federation's statutes and legal procedures and aims to secure a smooth transition. It presented the move as returning the floor to the clubs, and it said the federation will keep operating until the new leadership is chosen.

“The decision expresses the board's will to give the floor back to the clubs, without attachment to positions and titles.”

Liolios's exit and the wider case

Vaggelis Liolios resigned as president, and the board then voted in Angelos Papanikolaou as his replacement. Liolios, Petros Papapetrou, Ilias Koromilas and Giorgos Mavraganis have been remanded in custody in a case involving manipulated matches. Reports say Liolios's resignation spared him a formal removal from office before any court ruling. At the same session, the board suspended Koromilas as special arbitration adviser and referred everyone involved in the criminal proceedings to the EOK Ethics Committee. It also started replacing a member of the Central Arbitration Committee after accepting the resignation of Anastasios Piloidis.

Timing and the format of the vote

Sporting law requires at least 45 days between the call for an election and the vote. Before the announcement, reports had named 13 or 20 December as the likeliest dates, and the board chose the later of the two. Vroutsis met the new board on 26 October and asked for elections to be held as soon as possible. Whether the ballot will be held in person or electronically has not been settled. Electronic voting drew criticism during the 2024 elections.

Clubs and the December vote

Clubs are the electorate in federation elections. In the 2021 and 2024 elections, which Liolios won, 611 and 775 clubs took part respectively.

2021 elections611

2024 elections775

2021 elections

611 clubs

2024 elections

775 clubs

Data from the article text

Press reports had said that a December vote would have the new leadership take office shortly before Christmas. The official timetable still leaves open the voting format, and the clubs will decide who leads the federation through the scandal.