Greece's sports minister threatened to cut off government funding to the country's soccer association yesterday, one day after FIFA suspended all Greek teams from international competition.
Soccer's world governing body has accused the government of interfering with the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) and said it had ignored repeated warnings to stop.
Under the FIFA ban, Greek clubs cannot participate in the Champions League.
Athens is also due to host the final of the Champions League next year. UEFA said it was awaiting more detail of the ruling from FIFA before commenting.
Greek sports minister Giorgos Orfanos expressed surprise at the ban and said he would seek contact with FIFA president Sepp Blatter later yesterday.
"We explained our positions to Mr Blatter at a meeting in Zurich on May 29 ... and he assured us he understood our view," Orfanos told state-run NET television.
Orfanos said the Greek FA, which receives state financial support, has undemocratic voting rules and lacks transparency.
"We want more democratic voting rules -- rules that apply to all other sporting federations in Greece ... If they insist, state protection will be withdrawn," he said.
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