Omonia coach ban reduced

THE APPEALS Body of the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) yesterday reduced the ban handed out to Omonia coach Neophytos Larkou from six months to four matches.

Larkou will also have to pay a fine of €2,000, while he will miss this weekend’s derby with APOEL and the games against Alki, Aris and AEL.

The Omonia head coach had initially been charged with assaulting a referee, after the latter accused Larkou of pushing him on the shoulder. The charge was subsequently changed to unsportsmanlike behaviour.

The ban’s reduction led to the resignation of the CFA’s judicial committee’s chairman Costas Demetriades and member Aristotelis Misos, who both complained that the overruling of their decision legitimised the several blackmails they had allegedly received to hand out a lenient ban to the two Omonia officials. 

Another member of the committee, Panayiotis Kyprianou, resigned last month over the prejudice felt towards them.

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