UEFA must take more active role in Greek football says Panathinaikos president

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.

Greek football has been plagued by violence, corruption and rigged match scandals for decades and repeated reform attempts have managed little progress.

The sport suffered another major setback last week with the death of the AEK Athens supporter, prompting the latest government-led meeting on football on Wednesday with the heads of the country's four big clubs - Panathinaikos, AEK, PAOK and Olympiakos Piraeus - plus UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin present.

UEFA said the 'cancer' within Greek football needed to stop as the Greek government banned all but one - official - fan group for all clubs. The government also handed security on match days to police from private firms hired by the clubs.

UEFA declined to comment further when asked by Reuters.

"I think it's very important for UEFA to take a more active part in the affairs of Greek football ... even though every federation is independent," Alafouzos, a powerful businessman who has been running Panathinaikos since 2012, told Reuters.

"I was very happy they took the time to get involved with the problems a small country has with football. That was a very good sign," he added in an interview.

Greece's FA president was not at the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Alafouzos welcomed the government's decision for police to take over security outside stadiums from private firms.

"The policing is very important. Private security cannot do body search, identify fake tickets, you cannot enforce an ID check if police are not there,"