Senior refereeing committee official hospitalized after assault with iron bar

The vice president of the Hellenic Football Federation's (EPO) Central Refereeing Committee, Christoforos Zografos, was in the capital's Evangelismos Hospital on Friday after coming under attack outside his home in the central Athens district of Kolonos by two assailants who struck him on the head and arm with iron bars.

The exact motive for the attack was unclear but it came just a few days after Zografos assumed his post as vice president of the refereeing committee.

Zografos, a close associate of the Scottish former soccer referee Hugh Dallas, remained under armed guard on Friday at Evangelismos Hospital and was to undergo a minor operation on his arm.

Zografos is the third member of the refereeing committee to be physically assaulted in the past two years.