The murder became a major institutional scandal because the visiting ultras had allegedly been flagged in advance, yet they were able to cross into Greece, assemble in Athens, and reach the stadium before the confrontation. Greek police eventually arrested 105 people, most of them Croatian nationals, and distributed the detainees among sixteen prisons while judicial proceedings continued. Five people—a Croatian, an Albanian, and three Greeks—were initially identified by investigators as principal murder suspects, but the evidence and responsibility remained contested, and all detainees were later released on 22 December 2023 according to the source account. The investigation was further clouded by allegations that municipal workers power-washed parts of the crime scene before forensic work began, reports of a hidden weapons stash near the stadium, and claims that a Dinamo-linked detainee was smuggled onto the club’s returning flight. Seven senior Greek police officials were dismissed for failing to prevent the attack. UEFA postponed the scheduled Champions League qualifier, while AEK demanded Dinamo’s expulsion and Dinamo accused AEK of exploiting the tragedy to inflame tensions. UEFA president Aleksandar Čeferin visited Athens and called football hooligans the “cancer of football.” The violence also produced ugly national spillover: Croatian journalists were attacked in Athens, Croatian tourists were urged to conceal their nationality, and actor Rene Bitorajac was falsely presented by Greek television as a hooligan after footage from his film was mistaken for real riot imagery.
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