The president of Olympiakos Football Club is suing The Sun for more than £300,000 over claims he was facing criminal charges for bribery and match fixing.
Evangelos Marinakis claims an article, headlined “Arsenal’s rivals in a right old fix”, was defamatory and caused his reputation to be “seriously damaged”.
He said the article alleges he is facing prosecution for “being part of a criminal gang and participating in the offering of bribes as well as match-fixing”.
He also took issue with a picture caption saying: “TIED UP… Olympiakos owner Vangelis Marinakis is facing criminal charges”.
According to a High Court claim form, the article took up nearly a full page in The Sun and featured on the website from 1 October 2012 until at least the next day.
The article was published shortly before a Champions League match between the Greek club and Arsenal.
Marinakis says that the paper failed to publish an apology despite numerous letters sent by his solicitors to the paper between 1 and 19 October.
The majority owner of the club is also seeking an injunction against The Sun to prevent it from publishing similar claims.
A Sun spokesman told Press Gazette: “The Sun stands by its article and a plea of justification has been put on the record.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
