The Shakhtar (U-14) team was disqualified from the children’s “Dalmatinka Cup” in Split due to a physical attack on Sparta Sarajevo in the semifinals of the tournament.
Croatian “Morning paper” writes that in the semi-final match between Sparta Sarajevo and Ukrainian Shakhtar from Donetsk, there was “due to the overly aggressive behavior of small football players from Ukraine, the offenses became too severe for the age group up to 14 years old, and the coaching staff of the Ukrainians also joined in such behavior”.
“The children were fierce, an incident suddenly arose from normal football moments. There are usually no incidents in matches of this type because children’s football should be joy and happiness. It was and should have been a spectacle. Clubs from neighboring countries also participated in the tournament, it is a real harmonious picture of what a sporting event should look like, but also how society should look like. The tournament was created in very demanding organizational circumstances, and then something like this happens. I want to apologize to everyone who had to witness these scenes.” said tournament organizer Domagoj Bojčić.
He added that the Ukrainians were automatically disqualified from the tournament.
“Someone appeared who behaved like the members and pioneers of the Ukrainian club behaved. We have zero tolerance for violence and they were immediately disqualified. Look, if it was just the behavior of children, the judges would have solved it with red cards and exclusion from game. However, members of Shakhtar’s coaching staff got involved in the whole situation, they entered the field from the bench. They were disqualified in the same seconds. Once again, I would like to apologize to everyone because it was a terrible shock and great stress for the young players”.
Bojčić also confirmed that the young people from Sarajevo had to undergo examinations at the hospital.
“The violations of the young Ukrainian football players were too severe, too aggressive. That is why we reacted preventively and recommended examining the children for potential injuries. Before leaving, the medical staff examined the young football players so that they could safely go home. We still do not have accurate information about their condition.” underlined Bojčić.
By the way, more than 3,000 young football players from 15 countries took part in the “Dalmatinka Cup”, which was played from June 1 to 4.
(mondo.ba)