http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Twente-c39233 president reveals UEFA threat of a three-year ban
Dutch Eredivisie reigning champions FC Twente Enschede president, Jan Van Halst, has revealed that UEFA threatened the Dutch club with a three year European ban in the case the club failed to appear for the Europa League Round of 32 double headers tie against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Rubin-Kazan-c39193.
The Tukkers management launched an appealed with UEFA to reschedule their Europa League match, as they were not happy to play the match in the freezing cold conditions in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Russia-c2991. The last 32 Europa League encounter between the Tatars and the Tukkers was set to take place at Tsentralnyi Stadion. However, extreme weather conditions forced the home side to change the venue and play the match at Luzhniki artificial pitch.
The Dutch outfit went on to win the match eventually 2-0 against the Tatars last night, but the Reds president was not happy with UEFA’s decision to continue the match according to schedule. He was extremely angry with the decision, as it was freezing cold and Twente thermometer was reading the temperature below -15 degree Celsius.
Van Halst said, “I'm very angry. We did not want to hold the match, because we should not have been allowed to go on the field in such weather. It does not matter whether it was a Europa League or Champions League game, if we had won 10-0 or lost by the same score. Not all this matters when the life of a football player is at stake, the life of a man.”
“When we said that we were against the game, UEFA threatened us with a three-year suspension. Today we will send a complaint to UEFA and require an explanation. You know the story with the temperature measurement before the match. The Twente thermometer read -17.6, while the Luzhniki one showed -14.2 degrees Celsius,” he concluded.
Recently, Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-German was also seen complaining about extreme weather conditions in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-BATE-c39080 Borisav at Heradzki Stadium.
According to UEFA regulations, a team has the right to refuse to play the match if the temperature drops to -15 degree Celsius. However, the Tukkers were shocked when UEFA ignored every other reading in the Russian capital. Furthermore, even with players wearing protective gear, freezing temperature increases the risk of sustaining serious injuries while playing.
In these sorts of circumstances, the Tukkers president has every right to express their anger. With teams complaining about these extreme weather conditions, UEFA will have to take steps to maintain the balance of the game.
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