A Greek government minister has tabled a bill that would allow the construction of AEK Athens’ new stadium “Hagia Sophia.” As the Greek sports newspaper “Ora ton Spor” (Time for Sports) reports, the Greek Minister of Environment Energy and Climate Change, Giannis Maniatis signed the proposal to open the way to start the construction of the new stadium. However, in order to be valid for presentation to parliament, three further ministerial signatures are needed; Minister of Finance Giannis Stournaras, Minister of Culture Panos Panagiotopoulos and Minister of Interior Giannis Michelakis. All three have promised their signatures and pledged not to place any obstacle before AEK Athens’ effort to build their new “home”.
The new bill must then be submitted to the Greek Parliament for approval. The whole procedure will take about a month to be completed and then AEK F.C will be able to acquire the building permit in order for the project to come into being. Meanwhile, club officials are waiting from the General Sports Secretary to approve the stadium’s construction plan, but estimate that construction will start in May.
AEK’s chairman Dimitris Melissanidis urged the club’s fans to buy shares of the newly founded company, “Dikefalos 1924”, which will be the main sponsor of the stadium’s construction, in the region of Nea Philadelfia. In this way, the supporters will fund the construction of AEK’s new home ground.
AEK Athens, usually one of the biggest clubs in Greece, has been relegated to the third division due to unpaid debts. The new chairman, Dimitris Melissanidis leads the club’s new effort to return to the top flight.
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