On the 3rd of October 2019 at “Josy Barthel” stadium in Luxembourg during UEFA Europa League group stage match between football clubs Dudelange and Qarabağ a political provocation act was committed.
In the 30th minute of the match, after the second goal scored by FC Qarabağ, a drone was sent up. The controlled flying vehicle, carrying the flag of so-called separate “Upper Karabakh Republic”, was directed to the centre of the playing field. The referee officiating the game decided to interrupt the match. After the forced stoppage, lasted approximately 20 minutes, the match was resumed from the minute it was stopped. During the break caused by the provocation, the Minister of Sport of Luxembourg on behalf of the Government of Luxembourg presented his apologies for the incident to Qarabağ Football Club and spectators. The representatives of FC Qarabağ expressed their complaints and concerns about the situation occurred to FC Dudelange officials and UEFA representatives. The management of AFFA immediately contacted UEFA administration and expressed its deep concern about the incident. Moreover, AFFA has already sent to UEFA an official letter of complaint requiring to take appropriate actions.
Football promotes a sportsmanship, mutual respect and equality. Unfortunately, certain forces consider the game as an area for continuous political provocations. Actions similar to that we faced at “Josy Barthel” stadium put at the same time the safety and security of the players under threat. We do hope that relevant preventive actions will be taken to avoid such incidents in the future. We are confident that UEFA will conduct fair investigation and take appropriate decision with regard to that unpleasant situation occurred during the match.
AFFA expresses its gratitude to the players of FC Qarabağ for their very professional behaviour, controlling their emotions and not being influenced by that provocation. The club demonstrated a real esteem for the values of UEFA: respect for the decision of the referee, opponents and spectators!
Qarabağ is an integral part of Azerbaijan. This historical territory of Azerbaijan is occupied by Armenian armed forces. More than 1 million of our compatriots were forced to leave their homes and faced a life of refugees and displaced persons. FС Qarabağ is one of the few clubs that, due to political conflict and current occupation, is not able to play its home matches in the region (Agdam) it represents.
Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan supports the hosting of all football matches within the respect for the values defined by FIFA and UEFA and strongly condemns the attempts of political provocations during the matches!
