Cyprus government declares war on tax-evading football clubs

The Cypriot government has begun taking drastic measures against football clubs that have not paid their tax debts. The country's four famous football clubs - Apoel, Anorthosis, Apollon and AEL - have been threatened with having their bank accounts frozen if they do not pay their tax debts within the next eight days.

According to the demand of the Commissioner for Tax Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, Sotiris Markidis, these clubs must pay their debts of 1 million euros each in value added tax and income tax by August 20. Markidis firmly emphasized that the island's tax service will not grant any extensions to the clubs.

If the authorities' demands are not met, the tax office will launch debt collection measures. First of all, the bank accounts of all four clubs will be frozen. This will deprive the teams of the financial opportunity to strengthen their squads in the off-season.

If these measures fail, the next step will be to freeze and restrict the assets of the clubs. If necessary, a new measure adopted as part of the tax reform may be applied, which may include the seizure of buildings belonging to debtors.

Representatives of the above clubs who met with Markidis took the tax commissioner's warnings seriously and promised to collect the necessary funds to pay off the debts by the deadline.

During the meeting, Markidis did not hide his dissatisfaction with the debts of Cypriot football clubs. This happened shortly after the Cyprus Football Federation gave them the "green light" to participate in the national championship and European Cups in May last year, confirming that the clubs meet UEFA criteria.