Fifa v Greece: Your questions answered

Fifa President Sepp Blatter is threatening to ban Greece

The BBC's Athens correspondent, Paul Wood, unravels the confusion surrounding Fifa's threat to ban Greece from all international competition.

Where did this problem start?
From a long-running and very bitter feud between the Greek National Association (the Hellenic Football Federation) and the Greek government.

What are they arguing about?
The row is crystalised around an amendment to the sports law that Greece has, which states that no sports official can hold office if he is accused of a serious crime.

The vice president of the Hellenic Football Federation, who is also the president of the National Football League, Victor Mitropoulos, has been accused of embezzlement in connection with his stewardship of a club back in 1993.

Sepp Blatter's Fifa are monitoring the situation

He says that the law is aimed personally at him and that it is a personal vendetta by the sports minister.

The Hellenic Football Federation says this is an unwarranted interference into the way it runs its affairs.

Where does Fifa stand on the issue?
Fifa agrees with the Football Federation.

It says national football organisations must be autonomous and, unless the Greek federation tells it that is being left alone then Greece will be banned from international competition.

Which competitions could that affect?
Both individual clubs and the national squad.

It will mean that Greece is out of the 2002 World Cup and out of the Olympic competition in 2004, which is due to be held in Athens.

Since Fifa threatened to throw Greece out, has the situation changed in any way?
There have been frantic last-minute negotiations between the government and the Hellenic Football Federation, trying to patch things up.

It doesn't look as though they have.

The Greek government says it is not going to be pushed around by a federation for international football

  The BBC's Paul Wood

It looks as though the most that is going to happen is that the correspondence between the Hellenic Federation and the government will be sent.

It's not clear whether that will contain the assurance which Fifa is looking for - that the government is no longer "interfering" with the Greek federation.

Is anyone likely to back down?
What Fifa is demanding is that this law is ammended, that it is removed from the books.

The Greek government says that it is a sovereign government and that it is not going to be pushed around by what it says is a mere federation for international football.

What has been the reaction among the Greek population?
One of the problems which Greek football has been experiencing is dwindling attendances at matches.

There is a sense of crisis in the game.

Having said that, ordinary Greeks are pretty fanatical about football.

You go into cafes and shops and see them watching the games.

They are following this very, very closely and it will be a disaster and national humiliation if Fifa does enforce its ban.

Which side have the media come down on?
I haven't noticed any editorials coming down on either side.

I think there is once again a sense of shock that Greece is in the international dock as far as sport goes.

There has been a lot of coverage about the Olympics and that's where most of the worries have been focussed. But this continuing row does not make anyone look good.

So where do they all go from here?
Fifa says that the game in Greece has not been run well for the past 15 years.

This is not the first time it has made this kind of threat to expel Greece from international competition.

The trouble is that both sides have been engaging in brinkmanship and there is little room left for maneouvre for anybody.