End credits are rolling for Maroussi

It's quite interesting how they let it fall apart like that.


It was the team that impressed everyone last season both in Greece and the Euroleague. Much like Partizan Belgrade, Maroussi did have a small budget for all their player contracts that barely exceeded a million euros. However with very good coaching and smart player choices they managed to reach the TOP-16 of the Euroleague by defeating both Greek powerhouses Olympiakos and Panathinaikos during the season as they went along. But all things come to an end. The beginning of the end started with Maroussi being kicked out of the Euroleague Qualifying rounds for not submitting all the necessary documents to ULEB. But it actually started before that.

The major shareholder of Maroussi, Aris Vovos has abandoned the team for quite some time now. The players spent the entire last season receiving miniscule amounts of money and it's no wonder that most of them have fled to other destinations where the teams pay their players. He also left the team to be dismantled by incompetent people and he didn't even life a finger to change the collision course of the team. I guess he might wanted the team to go down after all.

Maroussi did have a decent presence in both Europe and Greece in the last few years and that needs to be said. It was more like a side project, a hobby if you like of someone with considerable amounts of money but the team itself had no significant amounts of fans. It wasn't a commercial team not by a long shot. Lately though the team has been left to its own devices and it was handed over to people with no experience in professional basketball. And of course these people have now disappeared after they ridiculed themselves, the team and Greek basketball in general.

According to basketnet.gr, the team will not be able to participate in the A1 league. They won't be able to submit a guarantee cheque in order to participate in the League or the Cup. They no longer have a roster of players or a head coach.

The situation in Maroussi reflects in a way the situation that exists at the moment in the Greek League. Where rules are bent to no end and there is no reliability on its proceedings or standards, let alone the officials that run it. Maroussi will be demoted to a semi-pro team and fall 2 divisions below. The Greek League will continue with 13 teams or 14. Unless of course a miracle happens in the next few hours..



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