In the spring, Arda Kardeshler officiated at a friendly match between the national teams of Russia and Serbia.
Krivoy Rog Krivbass turned to UEFA with a request to replace the chief referee of the first match of the playoff qualifying round of the Conference League against the Spanish Betis.
The reason was that the Turk Arda Kardesler, who was entrusted to referee a match of a Ukrainian club in the European Cup, officiated a friendly match between the national teams of Russia and Serbia in Moscow this spring.
“We consider it unacceptable to involve this referee in a match involving a Ukrainian football club. As you know, Ukraine has been at war for the third year now due to the large-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation. Despite the war, Ukraine holds football competitions at all levels. We owe this opportunity to the Ukrainian military, who courageously defend our country all the time, protecting it from the Russian occupiers.
The refereeing of our international match by a referee who worked a match involving Russians, and directly in Russia, discredits our entire club in front of all Kryvbas fans, among whom there are many military personnel who are now defending our country from Russian attacks, as well as in front of all of Ukraine, which is suffering from Russian military aggression.
Kryvbas also informed the Ukrainian Football Association and the UAF Referees Committee about the current situation. We believe that common sense will prevail,” the club's official statement reads.
Match “Kryvbas” – “Betis” will take place on Thursday, August 22, in the Slovak city of Kosice. The start is at 21:00 Kyiv time.
Recall that last season the Kryvyi Rih club won the “bronze” of the Ukrainian championship. Yuriy Vernydub's team started from the third qualifying round of the Europa League, where it was eliminated by the Czech “Viktoria Plzen”.