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UEFA Demands Ukraine Make Changes To ‘Political’ Jersey

  UEFA on Thursday demanded that Ukraine make changes to their jersey for Euro 2020 to remove a “political” slogan that sparked protests from Russia. … Continue reading UEFA Demands Ukraine Make Changes To ‘Political’ Jersey


A picture taken on June 6, 2021 shows a EURO 2020 jersey of the Ukrainian national football team. Ukraine provoked Moscow’s ire on June 6, 2021 as its football federation unveiled Euro 2020 uniforms that feature Russian-annexed Crimea and nationalist slogans. The uniforms in the blue-and-yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag feature the silhouette of Ukraine that includes Russia-annexed Crimea and the separatist-controlled regions of Donetsk and Lugansk as well as the words “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!” STRINGER / AFP
A picture taken on June 6, 2021 shows a EURO 2020 jersey of the Ukrainian national football team. Ukraine provoked Moscow’s ire on June 6, 2021 as its football federation unveiled Euro 2020 uniforms that feature Russian-annexed Crimea and nationalist slogans. STRINGER / AFP

 

UEFA on Thursday demanded that Ukraine make changes to their jersey for Euro 2020 to remove a “political” slogan that sparked protests from Russia.

European football’s governing body said the message “Glory to the Heroes”, a rallying cry during the 2014 anti-Russia protests in Ukraine that is featured inside the shirt, was “clearly political in nature”.

Russia welcomed the move, but the Ukrainian football association said it was in talks with UEFA to reverse its decision.

The Ukrainians stressed to AFP that “earlier UEFA had approved the new kit and every element of it, including the slogan.”

On Tuesday, Russia had sent a letter of complaint to UEFA over the yellow jersey which on the front also features the outline of Ukraine including Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted two photographs on Instagram of himself holding the jersey and said it bore “many important symbols that unify the Ukrainian people”.

The presidential press service then released a selfie Zelensky took of himself wearing the jersey.

“The Ukrainian national football team’s new jersey is in fact not like the others,” Zelensky said.

But UEFA said the map would not need to be removed or changed because a United Nations General Assembly Resolution “recognises the territorial borders as broadly depicted by the design”.

The slogan “Glory to Ukraine” was also approved by UEFA as “on its own (it) may be considered as a generic and non-political phrase of general national significance”.

That chant was also used by protesters who ousted a Kremlin-backed president, Viktor Yanukovych, during the Maidan demonstrations seven years ago.

Since annexing Crimea, Russia has backed pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine. The ongoing conflict there has claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people.

Russia hailed UEFA’s decision, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying “sport is not a battlefield, rather it is a field for competition”.

“Become sporting heroes and you will have glory. Do it that way and not with nationalist slogans saying the motherland should be glorified,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine begin their campaign at the European Championship on Sunday against the Netherlands in Amsterdam. Drawn in Group C, they also face Austria and North Macedonia.

Russia have been drawn in Group B alongside Belgium, Denmark and Finland. Their first match is against the Belgians in Saint Petersburg on Saturday.

AFP