MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) requests the Ukrainian national football team remove the inscription "Glory to Heroes!" from its UEFA EURO 2020 jersey, the UEFA press office told Sputnik on Thursday.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian Association of Football presented the new national team kit for EURO 2020. The T-shirts have the inscriptions "Glory to Ukraine!" and "Glory to Heroes!," used as official military greetings in the country, as well as the design element, which is a map of Ukraine including Crimea. On Tuesday, the Russian Football Union filed an appeal to the UEFA, claiming that Ukraine's shirt includes political messages.
"Following further analysis, this specific combination of the two slogans is deemed to be clearly political in nature, having historic and militaristic significance. This specific slogan on the inside of the shirt ["Glory to Heroes!"] must therefore be removed from use in UEFA competition matches, in accordance with article 5 of the UEFA Equipment Regulations," the statement said.
The UEFA confirmed that the organization approved the new jersey with "Glory to Heroes!" on the inside of the shirt collar in December 2020, recognizing that at that time it did not take into account the combination of the two slogans.
In addition, the union confirmed that the slogan "Glory to Ukraine!" was approved in 2018, mentioning that it "may be considered as a generic and non-political phrase of general national significance."
The statement added that the UEFA does not require any changes of the design element with the country's map, referring to the UN Resolution 68/262 that "recognizes the territorial borders [of Ukraine] as broadly depicted by the design."
Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, said, commenting on the UEFA decision, that sport is not a battlefield.
"Sport is not a battlefield but a competition field; it is not a political arena but an arena of achievements of physical culture. Become sports heroes and you will gain glory. That is how the motherland should be glorified, not by nationalistic slogans," Zakharova said on her Telegram.
"Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Heroes!" is a slogan of Ukrainian nationalists as well as the official greeting in the Ukrainian army and police. It was firstly used as a password greeting by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (banned in Russia) during the Second World War.
