Police raid four supporter groups' headquarters in Athens, Greece; Moltov cocktails, knife and gasoline found; home-made bats also present

Athens police raided four supporter groups' headquarters in Athens last week.

An Olympiakos fan club at Argyroupoli, a Panathinaikos club at Agios Dimitros, an AEK club at Agii Anargyri and a Panionios club at Nea Smyrni were raided and arrests were made.

Home-made bats, clubs, a knife, gasoline and Moltov cocktails were all found at the various club premises.

Olympiacos Employ Ketsbaia

Olympiacos have announced Temuri Ketsbaia will take the reigns of the Piraeus-based club, nine months after his former dwelling Anorthosis Famagusta stunned Europe by becoming the first ever Cypriot representative in the Group Stages of the Champions League – at the expense of the Greek champions.

Stepping into the often-blinding spotlight as the fourteenth manager in a decade, Ketsbaia is expected to deliver continental acclaim to Olympiacos in correspondence with the Super League accolade, which has developed an everlasting habitat at the Karaiskakis Stadium. Twelve titles out of the preceding thirteen delivers an insight into how life will unfold in the Athens pressure cauldron and Ketsbaia’s AEK roots, where he spent three seasons as a player, might become a burden if his tenure begins deplorably.

Olympiacos president Sokratis Kokkalis announced the managerial appointment at a press conference at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium.

"I have met with Mr Ketsbaia and I have a very positive opinion about our collaboration. He is a young and ambitious person who will achieve the club's objectives."

"Ketsbaia's contract is for three years. From the day the departure of [former coach Ernesto] Valverde was made official, a lot of proposals reached our offices but the best choice was Ketsbaia. We wanted a person that will work very hard for Olympiacos and I believe with him we will have that."

"He has the qualifications and we will support him with all the resources possible. He is someone that knows Greek football very well and in our view we should all give him the support he needs in order for him to achieve success.”

Ireland, Belarus, Cyprus and Lithuania set to rise up UEFA League Rankings

The UEFA league coefficient is used to rank the leagues of Europe and the purpose of these rankings is to act as a way of determining the number of clubs from each league that will participate in the the UEFA Cup and the Champions League. The ranking determines the number of teams competing in the season after the next. The coefficient is calculated by the results of the clubs of the leagues in the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League over the previous five years. The number of points awarded for each season is divided by the number of clubs participating for that nation in the season. Points are halved for the qualifying rounds for both competitions, while bonus points are awarded for clubs which reach the quarter-finals, semi-finals or final of the Champions League or UEFA Cup are awarded an extra point for each such round. The 'oldest' season is then replaced with the new season's values so that the averages are updated.

While it is too soon to state any significant changes at the top of the UEFA league rankings as the majority of countries in the top 30 still have teams participating in European competitions, a successful campaign for a club in one of the lower-ranked leagues provides an opportunity for the domestic league to climb the rankings. FC BATE Borisov's astonishing feat of progressing to the Champions League Group Stage will see Belarus rise at least 5 places come the end of the season and the club still have a minimum of six group matches to play. Cyprus can expect a similar elevation as Anorthosis Famagusta too made it into the Champions League Group Stage, while Omonia Nicosia's surprise victory over AEK Athens guaranteed them a place in the UEFA Cup First Round. Ireland's St Patrick's Athletic highlighted the rising standard of their domestic league by progressing to the UEFA Cup First Round and are expected to move up around five places and break into the top 30. Finally, FBK Kaunas' victory over Rangers in the Champions League Second Qualifying Round should see Lithuania climb into the top 30.

The league rankings of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Armenia, San Marino, Andorra and Malta will not change as all their competing teams failed to register any points. Montenegro, meanwhile, will climb two places to 50th.

You can track the rise and falls of the latest UEFA league rankings as the UEFA Cup and Champions League progress here.