

Nottingham Forest have begun their preparations for a potential return to European football with owner Evangelos Marinakis taking a step back from his involvement in the club.
The Greek shipping magnate has placed his shares in the Premier League club into a blind trust to ensure compliance with the multi-club ownership regulations of UEFA, which runs Europe’s three continental club competitions.
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Marinakis also controls Athens-based Olympiacos, who have had their own Champions League qualification confirmed, with Forest also hoping to secure their place in Europe’s top competition by securing a top-five league finish.
The 57-year-old will now have no influence or control over the running of the club next season, with UEFA regulations stipulating that he must pause his involvement in one of the two clubs if they both qualify for the same European competition.
While Forest’s Champions League qualification is not yet confirmed, UEFA rules dictate that these changes had to happen before the end of the month.
Forest co-owner Sokratis Kominakis, who was part of the Marinakis takeover of the club in May 2017, has returned to the Forest board which has been significantly restructured.
Three independent trustees have been appointed in Matthew Shayle, Tim Osborne and Matthew Cain, who are all partners at international law firm Wiggin Osborne Fullerlove.
Because UEFA rules stipulate that the number of trustees has to outnumber the number of board members, Michael Dugher, Jonathan Owen and Simon Forster have all resigned from their positions. But chairman Nicholas Randall KC will remain in position.
As The Athletic reported last month, it was expected that Marinakis would take a step back from his involvement with Forest, who he bought in May 2017, because of his family’s historic links with Olympiacos — his father, Miltiadis, was a senior figure at Olympiacos in the 1970s. Marinakis bought Forest in May 2017, having taken over at Olympiacos seven years earlier.
During his presidency of Olympiacos, the team won the Super League Greece title for seven consecutive seasons from 2010–11 to 2016–17, as well as from 2020 to 2022. Olympiacos also won the National Cup on four occasions and in May 2024 they won the Europa Conference League when they beat Fiorentina — the first time a Greek club have won a European title.
While he will not officially be able to have a role in the day-to-day running of Forest, Marinakis remains fully committed to the club and their development, and will be able to attend matches at the City Ground.
(Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
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