Azerbaijani fans upset by incident at "Karabakh" FC match

During the match of the group stage of the Europa League of the "Dudelange" (Luxembourg) and "Karabakh" (Azerbaijan) Football Clubs (FCs), a drone appeared over the stadium carrying the flag of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR); the referee stopped the match for 20 minutes and took the teams away from the pitch. The incident did not prevent the Azerbaijani club from winning the match with the score 4:1.

This match of the second round of the group stage took place on October 3 at the Luxembourg stadium and was broadcast to Azerbaijan by the local CBC Sport channel. During the match, a drone with the NKR flag appeared over the football pitch.

This fact aroused indignation of the guest players, who drew attention of the referee to the inadmissibility of the appearance of symbols of unrecognized states at stadiums. In this regard, the referee took the players of both teams from the pitch to locker rooms. They resumed the match only 20 minutes later.

At the stadium, the Luxembourg Minister of Sports addressed the audience through a loudspeaker. He apologized by saying that the receiving party was not involved in the incident. The Minister assured that those involved would be found and punished.

"This was an attempt to politicize sports. But I think that the organizers of this provocation have miscalculated. It has only confirmed the rightness of Azerbaijan, as the Luxembourg Minister of Sports has apologized for what had happened right at the stadium. Our players were great, they managed to get together after an unfortunate incident," Seimur Bairamov, one of the fans, has shared his impressions with the "Caucasian Knot".

Gurban Gurbanov, the head coach of the "Karabakh" FC, has treated the incident in the football pitch as a provocation.