Albanian Federation anounces arguments for Appeal

The institution that leads the Albanian football says that the decision is oriented to affect the results of the eliminatory group. During a press communication, the Albanian Football Federation published some evidence through which they hope that the Appeal will change the decision.

One of the points that will be supported at the Court of Appeal is the fact that the responsibility for the entrance of the banner is a responsibility of the organizing country. The Albanian Football Federation underlines that the Discipline Committee has equalized a single banner with an entire stadium of ethnic banners, of political banners, of racial and religious hate, and the authorship of this banner with Albanian symbols is still anonymous.

The communication says that the referee or other officials have not given any decision showing that the stadium security was established. The Albanian Football Federation rejected the arguments that made Albania lose the match outside the field.

The Albanian players were never notified that the official of this match decided that it would continue. There is no reference in the official reports that emptying the stadium was the best method to establish security.

According to the Albanian Football Federation, UEFA did not empty the stadium and then ask the Albanian players if they were ready to play.

The announcement concludes with the sentence: “We did not decide to not play. It was impossible to play, it was not a rejection.”

The Albanian Federation points of defense:

First: The Albanian Football Federation has no responsibility for the entrance of the flying banner in the Partizan stadium. The security belongs to the organizers. There were no Albanian fans in the stadium. The Albanian Football Federation cannot be responsible for the lack of security in Serbian territory, inside or outside the stadium.

Second: There were no security conditions to continue the game. The referee decided that the players should leave the field for security reasons. There is no decision of the referee or other officials that the security was established.

Third: There is clear medical evidence that the Albanian players were physically and psychologically unable to play due to the damages caused by the local fans, who entered the pitch.

Fourt: The punishments are unjust, because they equalize the punishments. A stadium that offers ethnic, political, religious banners and racial hate was punished at the same level as a single banner.

Fifth: The final actions that caused the abandoning of the game were the lack of securit and the violence suffered by the Albanian players.

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