Denying Russian player visa to enter Britain huge injustice, says coach Lucescu

Football
Published 24.08.2023
Denying Russian player visa to enter Britain huge injustice, says coach  Lucescu

Russian soccer participant Magomed Ozdoev being denied a visa to enter Scotland for a European sport was a “huge injustice,” his coach at Greek membership PAOK stated.

Ozdoev was refused entry by British authorities for the crew’s Europa Conference League qualifying sport in Edinburgh on Thursday towards Hearts.

The resolution got here three weeks after one other participant with a Russian passport, Gael Ondoua of Swiss membership Servette, couldn’t journey to Glasgow to play within the Champions League qualifying rounds towards Rangers.

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“I feel a sense of huge injustice not to have a player here in our group because of the reason of a visa,” PAOK coach Razvan Lucescu stated at a news convention forward of the primary leg of the Europa Conference League playoff.

“I don’t understand the people who decide about this,” the Romanian coach stated. “In a personal way, I feel very bad.”

UEFA stated in an announcement it couldn’t intervene in visa circumstances as a result of authorities authorities “are the sole decision makers in this regard.”

Ozdoev, a 30-year-old midfielder who performed 35 instances for Russia, left his house nation final 12 months after 4 seasons with Zenit St. Petersburg to hitch Turkish membership Fatih Karagümrük. He is in his first season with PAOK.

“We miss Mago,” PAOK defender William Troost-Ekong stated. “We have to adapt as a team but yeah, of course, I’m sad he’s not here with us today.”

“It is always a very difficult line to discuss football and politics,” the Nigeria worldwide stated.

Russian groups like Zenit have been barred by UEFA from European competitions inside days of the navy invasion of Ukraine beginning in February final 12 months. FIFA additionally eliminated Russian nationwide groups from its competitions, together with the boys’s and girls’s World Cups.