Kmotrik: Imposition of Quarantine on Slovan in Faroe Islands Scandalous
Klaksvik/Bratislava/Nyon, August 22 (TASR) – The UEFA Champions League qualifying match between KI Klaksvik of Faroe Islands and Slovan Bratislava, rescheduled from August 19 to August 21, could not be played due to coronavirus, and the matter will now be submitted to the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, said UEFA in a statement on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Slovan Bratislava club general director Ivan Kmotrik Jr. on Saturday called the course of events leading to the decision to abandon the match in the Faroe Islands as “scandalous”.
“I’m full of negative emotions. It’s beyond my comprehension to see such things happen in current times. I’m feeling powerless … It was a scandal what they did to us in the Faroe Islands. The match should have been decided on the pitch, along with the rules of fair play, but this, alas, didn’t happen,” said Kmotrik, adding that there were some “senseless processes” involved.
“Two conflicting decisions were applied to a single group, with players and the staff being quarantined for 14 days, while this didn’t concern other members of the group,” said Kmotrik, calling the decision of the local authorities as “purpose-built”.
After the entire team of Slovan Bratislava was tested negative before their arrival in the Faroe Islands in accordance with the UEFA Return to Play Protocol on Monday, the team underwent an additional COVID-19 in the Faroe Islands, as required by the local legislation, before the match scheduled for August 19. Nevertheless, a member of Slovan’s delegation was tested positive for COVID-19, so the local authorities decided to quarantine the entire Slovan team, noted UEFA.
The governing body of football in Europe then complied with a request of Slovan Bratislava to postpone the match by two days. The entire delegation returned to Slovakia in the meantime. However, a player from the second group that came to the Faroe Islands returned two positive COVID-19 test results in consecutive days. Consequently, the relevant authorities of the Faroe Islands decided to put the entire second group of Slovan Bratislava of players and officials into quarantine, according to UEFA.
Slovan Bratislava club sports director Richard Trutz on Friday stated that if Slovan went to play, the entire team could have been arrested by the Faroese police.
