PublishedSeptember 9, 2022, 11:58 PM
FootballDecision to play against Russia unleashes criticism
The Bosnian Football Federation (NSBIH) announced that the national team will play a friendly match against Russia in St. Petersburg in November: a flood of criticism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Captain Edin Dzeko and Bosnia and Herzegovina played Ukraine on October 12, 2021 in a World Cup qualifier in Qatar.
AFP
In a press release, the NSBIH specifies that this meeting will take place on November 19, on the eve of the opening of the World Cup in Qatar (November 20-December 18), which the Russian selection will not compete in, excluded from all international competitions by FIFA and UEFA after the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
“It’s not a good decision. I am speechless. The federation knows my position.
“It’s not a good decision. When the selection starts to obtain good results, there is always something wrong, ”lamented one of the stars of the Bosnian team, Miralem Pjanic (107 selections), passed by Juventus and Barcelona, which evolves today in the United Arab Emirates championship.
“I am speechless. The federation knows my position”, he added, quoted by the media sportske.ba.
The mayor of Sarajevo condemns
Sarajevo Mayor Benjamina Karic condemned the decision and threatened to end the Bosnian capital’s cooperation with the NSBIH if the match went ahead.
“We strongly condemn the federation’s decision to play a friendly match against Russia. Sarajevo has been a city besieged by an aggressor for a long time,” she said Karic, referring to the Serbian siege of her city during the Bosnian war. (1992-1995), in the midst of the breakup of Yugoslavia.
(AFP)