Olympiakos, the Greek champions, have asked for a court to freeze the assets of Rivaldo, after he reportedly cast doubt about their recent championship victory and past title wins. The motion is designed to secure the payment of damages from a €5 million (approximately £3,900,000) defamation suit filed against their former player and the chairman of his current club, AEK Athens, last week.

"An injunction application has been filed against Rivaldo," an Olympiakos spokesperson said. "It asks for the freeze of his property up to the sum of €5m to cover the compensation demanded by Olympiakos."

The injunction will be examined on July 2. The defamation case is expected to be heard in 2009.

Rivaldo spent three seasons at Olympiakos (2004-07) and won three championships. According to reports, Demis Nikolaidis, the AEK chairman, and Rivaldo made remarks in the team changing room accusing Olympiakos of having won this season's Greek championship on a technicality. Nikolaidis reportedly also accused Vassilis Gagatsis, the Greek football federation chairman, of helping Olympiakos to the title, while Rivaldo reportedly cast doubt on the championships he won while playing at the Piraeus club by saying: "While at Olympiakos, I heard that many Greek federation officials are in the club's employ. I have doubts about the three championships I won there."

In February, Olympiakos had dropped three points in a defeat by Apollon Kalamarias but the Greek federation reversed the result after Apollon were revealed to have fielded an ineligible player. A subsequent appeal by Apollon to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was dismissed, opening the way for Olympiakos to be crowned champions.