The Ukrainian national football team broke the rules at the European Youth Championship , releasing two players who are not eligible to play on the field. However, in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for some reason silently ignored the actions of the Ukrainians, and the Romanian side is indignant. The correspondent tried to find out the further course of events.
Failed to count to two The Romanian portal Playsport gave a sensation about a gross violation of the rules by the Ukrainian team at a major youth tournament currently taking place in Romania and Georgia. The material revealed that the Ukrainians spit on the FIFA rules. According to the regulations, the players must take a break of two full days between performances for the adult and youth teams.
This is where the fun begins. Two youth players Anatoly Trubin and Georgy Sudakov played 90 minutes for the main team in the Euro 2024 qualifying match on June 19. The Ukrainians entered the starting lineup in the game with Malta, which ended in a 1-0 victory. Since the match started at 21:00 Moscow time, they could not play for the youth team until 21:00 Moscow time on June 21 at the Youth Euro 2023.
Sudakov and Trubin played the Croats two days later, but the fact is that the match started at 19:00 Moscow time. After simple mathematical operations, we can conclude that 46 hours have passed between the two games. A clear violation of the rules. Thus, Ukraine should have been given a technical defeat. Instead of a 2-0 victory and three points, the youth team should have been left with nothing.
Romanians are indignant, UEFA and FIFA are silentRomania found itself in a similar situation. Local media claim that their team just clearly complied with FIFA rules. The coach of their national team, for example, did not release Vladimir Skrechu, who is involved in the main team, on the field in the game with Spain. The Romanian Football Federation appealed to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) with a request to clarify the situation, where it was sent to FIFA. The International Federation confirmed that Skrechu could not play against the Spanish team, but no comments were made about the Ukrainian team.
Agree, it is very strange that one team applies some rules, and the other — completely different. Obviously, this puts the teams in unequal conditions, because the players who play for the main teams are a priori of high quality and capable of powerfully strengthening the youth team.
It turns out that UEFA and FIFA, by their actions, weakened the Romanians and strengthened the Ukrainians. This was ultimately reflected in the results of the matches. The Ukrainian national team has six points after the first two meetings of the group stage, Romania has zero. The first ones quietly go to the playoffs, while the others are guaranteed not to leave the group.
At the same time, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Georgian football players Zuriko Davitashvili and Giorgi Gocholeishvili played for the adult and youth teams, respectively. The hosts of the tournament have not yet been punished in any way. The leadership of world football runs the risk of creating a dangerous precedent by manipulating its own rules in different directions. It is clear that the Georgians probably do not want to be punished because of the status of the host country for the Euro, and the Ukrainians for political reasons. The only problem is that all other teams also understand this and hardly like it.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors