UEFA

LONDON - English Premier League side West Ham United came from behind to defeat Serbia's TSC Backa Topola 3-1 in the UEFA Europa League Group A in London on Thursday evening.

Petar Stanic put the visitors in the lead in the 47th minute after robbing Angelo Ogbona of possession in midfield and going through on goal.

BUDAPEST - Serbian side Cukaricki lost 3-1 away to Hungarian football giants Ferencvaros in the UEFA Europa Conference League Group F in Budapest on Thursday evening.

The hosts had a goal disallowed for offside in the 10th minute.

Djordje Ivanovic put Cukaricki in front in the 26th minute with a low driven shot from about ten yards out following a Bojica Nikcevic assist.

MANCHESTER - Manchester City came from behind in the second half to defeat Red Star Belgrade 3-1 in a UEFA Champions League Group G match in Manchester on Tuesday evening.

In response to a request by the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) for elite referees to officiate derby matches of the Greek soccer Super League, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin stressed that their safety in Greece "is a problem."

MONACO - Serbian runner-up football champions TSC were on Friday drawn to play West Ham, Olympiacos and Freiburg in Group A of the 2023/2024 UEFA Europa League, while Cukaricki will face Ferencvaros, Fiorentina and Genk in UEFA Europa Conference League Group F.

The draw ceremonies for the group stages of the two competitions were held in Monaco.

Success in Greek soccer is often weighed down by off-the-field controversy. This time it's the killing of a fan in Athens.

Panathinaikos owner Giannis Alafouzos missed being in France to see his team eliminate former European champion Marseille from the Champions League on Tuesday - its biggest game in more than a decade.

European soccer's governing body UEFA needs to take a more active role in efforts to fix troubled Greek football, Panathinaikos president Giannis Alafouzos said on Thursday, days after a Greek fan died in clashes with Dinamo Zagreb fans.

In the aftermath of the latest deadly hooligan clashes earlier in the month, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared on Wednesday that associations of organized team supporters will be closed, with only one official association remaining available for each team and operating at each soccer club's headquarters.

Socialist opposition party PASOK said many of the measures announced by the prime minister on Wednesday to curb hooligan-related violence in Greece are "already foreseen" in the reform package agreed on after the killing of a soccer fan by hooligans in February 2022.

The main opposition on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of repeating measures "he had already announced in February 2022" to tackle the violence perpetrated by hooligans in Greece.