UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin commented on the problem that national teams and clubs of some countries cannot compete in the same group in the races organized under the banner of his organization due to political issues.
Report informs that the 52-year-old Slovenian functionary, cited Azerbaijan and Armenia in this regard during his interview to RIA Novosti.
"Security is one of the key factors for us," said Čeferin. “We always consider security issues when making decisions on the tournaments. We include Serbia and Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Armenia into different groups. Even Spain and Gibraltar cannot be in the same group. We take preventive measures when we have security questions or we see that some problems may arise, when we receive relevant proposals from national federations.”
Čeferin expressed confidence that the situation will change over time: “Security is of principal importance for us and we do not engage in political issues. This decision was made by UEFA and it is not time to change it. There were different situations in history, but they have changed over time. The situation with Russia and Ukraine will also change. I don't see a reason why it wouldn't happen. Football is full of surprises, imagine that both teams will advance to the semifinals or finals at Euro 2020. Then they will definitely play in London. ”