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The Athens legendary sports club Panathinaikos continues its existence without one of the wealthiest Greek families. The announcement was made by the son of Vardis and Mariana Vardinogiannis - Giannis - at a special press conference in the capital suburb of Peania.  "We are withdrawing right now. We are transferring 54 per cent of the shares to an authorized attorney and we are not going to participate in decision making," he said. According to him, this is the only way to end the cleavage and the interpersonal problems in Panathinaikos.

The Vardinogiannis family holds 54.7 per cent stake in the Panathinaikos sports club, of which it has been a part since July 1979. Besides the famous family that is the majority owner of the club, shares in the club hold the president of Marfin Investment Group Andreas Vgenopoulos, Nikos Pateras and the Giannakopoulos brothers. Yannis Vardinogiannis said that he could not be a shareholder in a business venture that has holes for millions, obviously annoyed by the frequent overspending in the club’s budget. He described Andreas Vgenopoulos’ communication tricks as a "long subversive war."

Giannis Vardinogiannis admitted that while part of the team he has made three mistakes, two of which he would make again, and would avoid the third. The first is that he has not collaborated with the minority of Panathinaikos football fans that made the problems at the stadiums. The second is that he has not defended the team underhand. The third mistake, which he would not make again, is that he has announced in advance to the Board his decision to build the new stadium in the area of ​​Votanikos and the information that leaked in the media in fact has hampered the completion of the project.