Bulgarian and Hungarian clubs refuse to play with Russian teams

The Bulgarian “Levski” and “Beroe”, as well as the Hungarian “Tisakechke” refused to play friendly matches with domestic teams. Fans and the national football federation of Hungary opposed. “MK” tells the details of an unpleasant incident.

Clubs of the Russian Premier League are holding winter training camps, preparing for the resumption of the championship. As MK wrote earlier, some of the teams went to Turkey, and the other to the United Arab Emirates. During the training camp, friendly matches are planned for everyone, so that the coaches can test their wards in action, evaluate newcomers and make adjustments to tactics for the second part of the season.

Moscow Spartak has been in Dubai since January 13. Like everyone else, at the first training camp, which will end on January 27, the red-whites were scheduled for two friendly matches. On January 22, the game was to take place with the Bulgarian “Levski”, and on the 27th – with another Bulgarian club, “Botev” from Plovdiv.

For reasons beyond the control of Spartak, the game with Levski did not take place.

On January 20, an official statement was posted on the website of the Bulgarian club, which stated that the management of PFC Levski had made the final decision that the planned control meetings with Spartak and Ural would not take place. “The decision on them was made with the expectation of the most complete preparation of a representative team. However, the most important thing for us remains the unity of the club and the fans,” the message emphasized. In fact, confirming the information that appeared earlier on the Internet that some of the active fans of Levski oppose the games with Russian clubs.

The head of the press service of Spartak, Dmitry Zelenov, on January 21, on the air of the Vyshli Internet TV channel, said that now the Bulgarian team will be required to pay a penalty in accordance with the terms of the match contract concluded earlier.

“The contract provided for certain compensation in the event that the game was canceled at the initiative of one of the parties, not due to force majeure. It is necessary to wait for the completion of all procedures. The story, to be honest, is unexpected. But we are ready for surprises. An opponent has already been agreed upon instead of Levski. This is the Uzbek club AGMK. The situation was an unpleasant surprise, but we were ready for it and will not be left without rivals. It was Levski’s decision. Why they decided so, it’s better to ask them,” Zelenov said.

The game against AGMK took place on January 22. Spartak won – 3:1, goals for the red-and-whites were scored by Daniil Zorin (22nd minute), Keita Balde (45th) and Alexander Sobolev (59th).

Yekaterinburg Ural, which also holds training camps in the UAE, also expressed its position on Levski’s demarche. “The game was supposed to take place at the training camp on January 31, but the Bulgarian team notified us that the match would not take place. The official letter says that the meeting in Dubai is canceled “due to public pressure on Levski, primarily from the fans.” The team from Sofia asks for understanding of its decision and expresses the hope that it will definitely meet with Ural on the football field in the future, ”the official statement on the Ural website said. And the president of the club, Grigory Ivanov, also said that Levski is obliged to pay compensation for the failed meeting.

Spartak and Ural were not the only Russian teams that Levski refused to play with. On January 13, a message was posted on the Krasnodar website that the match scheduled for January 17 with this Bulgarian club would not take place. Because of what, the new Bulls coaching staff had to make changes to the schedule of friendly matches at the training camp in the UAE.

Randomness or trend?

Of course, one could reproach the leadership of Spartak and Ural for not having made changes to the schedule of control games in advance, knowing about the cancellation of the match between Levski and Krasnodar on January 13. But this will not be entirely fair, since the clubs had match contracts concluded in advance, and, first of all, it is necessary to proceed from existing contractual obligations. Which our teams, unlike their foreign colleagues, always try to fulfill honestly. While others, unfortunately, continue to put politics ahead of sports. Because the unpleasant incident with Levski is not the only one.

On January 18, the Bulgarian club Beroe refused to play with Nizhny Novgorod, which then for some reason played on January 21 with Rubin, which is playing in the first league this season. In this match, by the way, Kazan players won with a score of 2:0. In some sports telegram channels, they even began to joke that either the Beroe management does not know geography well, or that the unwillingness to play with Russian teams applies only to RPL clubs.

In addition to the Bulgarian Beroe, the Hungarian Tisakechke also refused to play against Nizhny. According to Match TV, the ban on meeting with the Russians came from the Hungarian Football Federation.

“This is a rather acute problem. For future friendly matches, we are mostly considering Russian clubs, ”said Igor Kudryashov, sports director of Nizhny Novgorod, in an interview with Metaratings.

It is likely that this is the most rational decision, based on the inadequate behavior of our European neighbors. Because changing opponents at the last minute is not very convenient. And yes, it does look a bit awkward.

So far, RPL clubs still have games with other Bulgarian, Macedonian, Bosnian teams in their plans for the winter training camp. There are few of them, but maybe you need to talk again with the leadership of these teams. And in advance to dot all the match contracts in order to avoid embarrassment.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28956 dated January 24, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Football banned