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ZURICH, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Greek football was given the official stamp of approval on Friday when FIFA, the Greek government and the Hellenic Football Federation signed a joint agreement to back progress made in the country over the past three months.

A meeting of FIFA's National Associations Committee applied the final touches to an agreement which covered various issues which almost led to the suspension of the Greek FA earlier this year.

"The agreement successfully concluded the long discussions to normalise the relations between Greek football and the country's governmental authorities in line with the FIFA statutes and regulations," said a statement issued by FIFA.

In late March, Greece were in danger of being suspended by FIFA because of problems between the Greek government and Greek soccer association (EPO).

EPO and the government had been locked in a year-long bitter feud over proposed sports ministry reforms which covered doping control, revenues from the pools, cross-ownership and recent sports legislation.

For some time Greek soccer had been plagued by dwindling attendances, hooliganism and match-fixing allegations.

But a joint declaration by the Greek government, the Greek FA and FIFA in late April averted the danger and Greece were allowed to continue playing in their World Cup qualifiers.

THREE MONTHS
At the time, FIFA gave the Greek authorities three months to sort out their problems and committed the parties to:

• undertake all efforts to negotiate in good faith to solve issues of common interest.

• immediately form a working party including representatives of all parties involved in the signature of the declaration.

• bring the Greek FA's legal scope of action into line with the FIFA statutes while taking into account Greek government guidelines for national sports policies.

Meanwhile, all decisions regarding potential sanctions against the Greek FA were put on hold for three months.

On Friday, FIFA's statement said: "Complete agreement was reached between all parties regarding the internal regulations of the Greek FA, refereeing and coaching matters, disciplinary organisation, financial auditing, violence, doping as well as other issues.

"After a lengthy discussion, the matter on how to proceed in cases of destitution and suspension of members was also settled.

"By signing Friday's agreement, the Greek government has confirmed its commitment to adapt its legislation by mid-January next year.

The Hellenic Football Federation, meanwhile, has pledged to adopt the revised statutes at their general assembly due to be held by the end of April next year.