sport news Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis' Olympiacos stand in the way of ... trends now

Aston Villa's bid for a first European final since 1982 will see Unai Emery's side come up against an increasing familiar face, with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis expected to be in the stands to watch his Olympiacos side.

The 56-year-old has been in the headlines having been reported to have been behind Forest's explosive social media post after their 2-0 defeat to Everton last month.

Marinakis had been furious when his team were denied three penalties at Goodison Park, with the club posting they had warned the PGMOL about VAR official Stuart Attwell being a fan of Luton Town, their relegation rivals.

He had also been a visible presence on the touchline after Forest's 1-0 loss to Liverpool in March, after the club felt they had been wronged by a controversial decision ahead of the Reds' winner.

The colourful owner will take a brief break from Forest's relegation battle with Olympiacos currently enjoying their best European run of his tenure.

The shipping magnate bought the Greek giants in 2010 and has presided over Olympiacos' dominance of the the Greek Super League.

Olympiacos have won 10 of 13 league titles under his ownership, while they have regularly bloodied the noses of English teams in Europe.

Arsenal have played Olympiacos 12 times during the Marinakis era with the teams sharing six wins apiece. Olympiacos dumped the Gunners out of the Europa League in 2020, with the Gunners gaining revenge the following year.

West Ham and Tottenham have also travelled to Karaiskakis Stadium in recent years and failed to win, while Wolves narrowly emerged as 2-1 winners in a Europa League last-16 tie in 2020.

There is the additional motivation for Olympiacos of this season's Conference League final taking place in Greece, at the home of rivals AEK Athens.

Marinakis took control of Olympiacos in 2010 in the aftermath of the country's financial crisis. His father, Miltiadis, had been an investor in the team and was reportedly fanatical in his support of the club.

His son ultimately inherited the family business in the 1990s. Now he is chairman and founder of Capital Maritime and Trading Corps, a major player in the industry which controls about 120 vessels. 

Evangelos then followed his father in investing into Olympiacos, stating that he had bought the Greek giants because of his love of the club, which is said to hold a 'special place' in his his heart.

While Olympiacos secured seven straight titles between 2011 and 2017, Marinakis has been a divisive and outspoken figure in the sport.

Marinakis has been charged with several serious offences during his time in Greek football before being cleared.

He was acquitted of charges of complicity to commit acts of bribery and match manipulation in 2015 as part of the wider Koriopolis match-fixing scandal in Greek football. 

Marinakis broke the rules by entering the referee's changing room at half-time during the 2014 Greek Cup final between Olympiacos and Asteras Tripolis but again was acquitted in both the first trial and an appeal hearing.

Allegations that Marinakis conspired with the president of the Greek Football Association to choose referees for specific games, which almost led to his imprisonment, were finally quashed by the Greek Supreme Court in 2018.

Marinakis had insisted he had been the victim 'of a plot' when insisting his innocence, accusing other teams of being 'jealous' of the success enjoyed by Olympiacos.

'The things I am accused of couldn’t be further from my mentality and the way I operate as a person,' Marinakis said in 2017. 'They are not only untrue, they are unthinkable. 

'I do not answer publicly, by choice. Maybe it is a mistake, since others speak all the time, but it is not in my philosophy to feed the small-minded, vicious cycle of unsubstantiated yellow rumours. I prefer justice to take its course, no matter how long this will take in Greece.'

Away from football, he was charged with drug trafficking in March 2018 after the tanker Noor One was found to be carrying 2.1 tonnes of heroin in 2014. Marinakis always denied wrongdoing.

The Olympiacos owner has also repeatedly hit out at officiating in Greece, notably claiming in 2022 that his side be been the victims of a 'rigged referee and federation' after Panathinaikos scored a late penalty to earn a draw against his side.

‘It is one of the biggest massacres,’ he said. ‘From the first minute, with a rigged referee, a rigged federation, Greek football is going from bad to worse.

‘I’m happy because all these great players proved they can play very nice football and win, we even beat the referee who from the first minute was rigged. That’s what I have to say, we’re winners in the end.’ No evidence has emerged to suggest this was the case.

He is far from the first Greek owner to criticising

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