In a build up to the EURO 2020 football competition set to begin this weekend, Russia has taken a complain to UEFA, the organizers of the competition. It complained that Ukraine’s jersey logo is a provoking political one. The shirt which has a map showing Russian-annexed Crimea as part of Ukraine had raised anger in Russia.
Russia Football Union (RFS) has sent a complaint letter to the European football’s governing body Uefa over what it describes as Ukraine’s “political” Euro 2020 kit. It says that the kit goes against the basic principles of Uefa.
Uefa on its own part responded that the kit “has been approved by Uefa, in accordance with the applicable equipment regulations.”
The front of the yellow and the away blue shirts show the contours of Ukraine in white, including Crimea and the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which have been partially seized by pro-Russian separatists.
In an Instagram post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote that “the Ukrainian national football team’s new jersey is in fact not like the others. In his words “It knows how to shock. It bears many important symbols that unify the Ukrainian people.”
Ukraine’s head coach Andriy Shevchenko who himself is a former player of the Ukrainian national team said he did not care what the reaction from Russia was.
