Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was filmed appearing to be in a heated altercation during the Euroleague Basketball final in Athens on Sunday. The 58-year-old was at the arena to watch Olympiakos beat Real Madrid 92-85, but footage from the event showed him in a ripped shirt arguing in the stands while security personnel and a barrier separated him from others nearby.
The video does not show the person Marinakis was arguing with, though Greek media reported it was Grigoris Dimitriadis, a former close adviser to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Marinakis also owns Olympiakos, and the scene came on the same day Forest drew 1-1 with Bournemouth to finish in 16th place in the Premier League.
The moment lands after a demanding season for Forest, who sacked three managers — Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche — before Vitor Pereira secured Premier League safety. The club also reached the semi-finals of the Europa League before a 4-1 aggregate defeat by eventual winners Aston Villa, leaving Marinakis to juggle success in Athens with a far less comfortable campaign in Nottingham.
It is not the first time Marinakis has faced scrutiny at a football ground. In 2024, he was found guilty of improper conduct and given a five-game stadium ban after spitting on the floor as match officials walked past following Forest's 1-0 defeat by Fulham. Three months later, the Football Association said a Forest social media post about VAR Stuart Attwell was “an attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale,” and the club was fined £750,000 after its official X account called Attwell's integrity into question following a defeat at Everton.
Marinakis has generally denied wrongdoing in past controversies and said he had “no regrets,” while also acknowledging “big mistakes” in remarks tied to earlier disputes. Sunday’s footage will only deepen attention on a figure who has turned Forest into a club with greater ambition, but also one repeatedly pulled into arguments that keep spilling beyond the pitch.
