Azerbaijan are Europe aligned. They're part of UEFA.
Agree with your second paragraph.
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Henrikh Mkhitaryan to miss Europa League final
- Thread starter Sjaakmeoff
- Start date
Agree with your second paragraph.
Because Azerbaijan is a member of UEFA and that's what matters when they're making that decision.
Absolutely right - there are plenty of good stadiums in European countries where you wouldn't have to worry about the nationality of one of your players.
Azerbaijan actually guarantees his safety, so there's no way Arsenal or anyone else can legally boycott this. I can understand Mkhitaryan's decision though.
Although tbf, a Twix is fifty quid at Wembley.
He already scored and won a Europa final. Might have made the decision easier for him and his family.
I'd imagine there must be at least a handful of British-Armenians who support Arsenal or Chelsea and are going to be unable to attend the final. Utter disgrace.
What assurances were arsenal looking for here beyond a statement from the Foreign Ministry? An armed guard?
I don't know. But, as I said, I can understand Mkhitaryan's decision. I mean, look at the Ramil Safarov story.
I absolutely understand his decision. Imagine him seeing a pitch invader.
Read that story a few weeks ago. Insane.
I don't have an issue about the location of the final, Azerbaijan is a member of UEFA and if they have a good stadium, why not, you can't always play in the same countries. The biggest problem is ticket allocation which is ridiculous, finals hardly have any real fans who followed the team home & away all the way up until the final. Tickets are given to sponsors and other rich people instead.
Uefa should categorically never allow a country in the euro zone the chance to host if they deny entry or create dangerous conditions to nationals of another country within that same zone.
I like the idea of having this played @ Wembley.
I like the idea of having this played @ Wembley.
To be fair, both clubs should refuse to play this game in Baku for many reasons, not just Mikhitaryan.
What could UEFA do if they just said “We’ll play this game at Wembley instead” and the FA were fine with it?
What could UEFA do if they just said “We’ll play this game at Wembley instead” and the FA were fine with it?
It would be great if they did but UEFA would probably jump at the chance to stop the English dominance of the finals and ban both clubs letting the other semi finalists play it out.
This is bigger than football it is about freedom and values. If all the major European clubs threatened to pull out of Europe next season and start their own alternate competition UEFA may back down but it won't happen, I don't know if any other clubs have even made any noise about it but this could happen to any club. Arsenal and Chelsea have a duty to their shareholders and aren't going to risk losing a potential £100 million champions league campaign next season seeing as English clubs have a really good chance of getting far based on this seasons form.
Basically UEFA are a disgrace and should make a statement to the world by moving the final to elsewhere but they probably won't as money talks as usual.
So, if it is to go ahead as planned, it would be nice to see Arsenal and Chelsea fans unite in showing their disgust to the world TV cameras throughout the game by displaying neutral coloured banners and scarfs etc......they could produce rainbow coloured Arsenal and rainbow coloured Chelsea scarfs to show that no matter what colour your team wears, what colour people skin are or no matter where they are from they are equal.......every TV commentator throughout the world would have to explain the scarfs. Both clubs could easily afford to make 5000 of these each and give out to the fans for free!
That's fairly reasonable.
Better be safe than risk this kind of things.
I assume Mkhi already help Arsenal in some way to reach the final, and Arsenal is still strong enough without him, so shouldn't be a problem.
Better be safe than risk this kind of things.
I assume Mkhi already help Arsenal in some way to reach the final, and Arsenal is still strong enough without him, so shouldn't be a problem.
That's what happens when you host finals in Middle Orient countries with multiple geopolitical problems.
Has UEFA ever given a reason for the choice of location? It just doesn't make any sense. Feel for Mkhitaryan, the average player doesn't get many opportunities to play in a final like this.
Back in 2004 at a NATO event in Hungary an Armenian was murdered by Ramil Safarov. The killer is now a national hero in Azerbaijan with a job for life and a free apartment.
UEFA is at fault here big time!
UEFA is at fault here big time!
They'd probably cancel the final altogether and/or use 2 other semi-finalists. I mean you know that this is not how the world works, right? If they'll undermine UEFA, UEFA won't let them back into their competitions (including Champions League).
Anyone else annoyed their official statements mentions "Micki" instead of "Mkhi"?
It is bollocks from Arsenal and Micki's part. In these cases like Azerbaijan/Armenia in every discipline it's alwas the players boycotting the sporting events. Everyone knows Azerbaijan can't allow anything to happen to him while the whole world is watching.
Trying to blame Micki's decision on the other country is disgraceful. Anyway both countries need to grow up and get their act together, these continuous occurences of petty nonsense are pathetic.
Trying to blame Micki's decision on the other country is disgraceful. Anyway both countries need to grow up and get their act together, these continuous occurences of petty nonsense are pathetic.
At next years Euro 2020! Azerbaijan will host group matches and one 1/4 final four days before the semifinals in London! UEFA love the fans! Any city with such a small airport shouldn't be allowed to host.
Absolute shambles
Absolute shambles
And Karam Sloyan or whatever his name was. Granted, the Safarov story is more relevant to how assurances should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Mkhi is absolutely right not to go. The clubs are right not to make a stand which ultimately can be construed as a stance on a specific 30 year-old conflict (however clearcut it seems to me, not their business). UEFA are morons, there's probably a single Armenian across all EL knockout teams, should have got Arsenal knocked out (lolzy).
They always yell that football and politics shouldn't mix. That's clearly the case here. So why don't they just move the final to a different country. They could even move it to Europe. would be somehow fitting to have the final of a European Cup competition in Europe.
The UEFA/FIFA really shouldnt host these events in countries where these kind of political things are going on. Just host them in stable 'normal' countries.
I get that the UEFA most likely is paid to host it in Azerbaijan and as side effect i guess they hope to make football more popular in that country but why cant they just host it in a stable country with a big football culture.
How many fans will even go to Azerbaijan to see their team play? Personally i dont even know where it is... somewhere near Asia?
I get that the UEFA most likely is paid to host it in Azerbaijan and as side effect i guess they hope to make football more popular in that country but why cant they just host it in a stable country with a big football culture.
How many fans will even go to Azerbaijan to see their team play? Personally i dont even know where it is... somewhere near Asia?
It is in Europe. Unless you're being deliberately dense
Just read up on that, and I can definitely see why Mkhi wouldn't want to travel there.
I'd call the Azeri Ambassador petty, not Mkhi. You can sense his utter contempt and he is a fecking diplomat supposed to be giving assurances not visceral statements.
“This is a Class A event, if our purpose is to play political games around it it is something different, you are being paid as a footballer not a politician, lets leave other issues aside,” he said.
“His problem is that he has visited a military occupied portion of Azerbaijan which in doing so without permission from Azerbijani government.
“This entails consequences including blacklisted by the government. But he will be able to have security and safety guarantees.
“My message to Mkhitaryan would be: you’re a footballer, you want to play football? Go to Baku you are safe there, if you want to play the issue then that’s a different story.
“What I can guarantee is that the Azerbaijan government will do everything what needs to be done and provide safety and security for every fan, player and staff member coming to this game.”
Mkhi has got great pedigree in the EL his loss will be a blow. UEFA should cancel the final and hand the trophy to Arsenal
I don't know much about the situation in the country, but it seems like the Azerbaijani government is currently on a big push to brand themselves as a "European" holiday destination, using sporting diplomacy. I mean they've had an F1 race for a few years now, which was originally named the "Grand Prix of Europe" 
It was mostly a sarcastic dig towards UEFA's policy.
Also, I understand that they want to include all Europe affiliated in hosting finals, but a country with considerable tensions towards another Europe affiliated country seems like a very poor choice. And Mkhitaryan missing this final illustrates that.
It's not particularly controversial to suggest that Azerbaijan is not in Europe. Geographically speaking, it really isn't.
Had it been a CL final would he have traveled despite the security risks?
Another part of the problem.
While it's quite clear that football is hardly about the match going fans anymore, this is simply a giant feck you to people who want to attend the final.
Should never be held in Baku. Money has totally corrupted football, the ticket allocation is a joke and the stadium looks like it belongs in the 1980’s. Feck UEFA.
That is hardly the point is it? This isn't just about football it is about decency.
Not a single soul would've cared if the final was Besiktas vs Dinamo Kiev being held in Dublin and that's the same amount of travelling. No one would've made a deal out of this if the final was Frankfurt vs Valencia either.
Agreed that it shouldn't be held in Baku though.
It is though. Geographically speaking, it's a transcontinental country like Russia (so part of it is in Europe). Political and organization wise? It absolutely is. There are other issues here beside location of the final. Moscow, Istanbul and Kiev have hosted European finals in the past without any issues due to geography.
I think it would actually not be a bad idea to nominate several venues for the final and chose the definitive one, once you know who's in it. Though I suppose that would be harder than it sounds?