The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has asked Ukraine to remove the "political in nature" slogan "Glory to the Heroes!" from the country's new soccer kit prepared for the European Championship, UEFA Euro 2020, yet, a map of Ukraine that includes Crimea will remain.
"Following concerns raised by the Russian Football Union, UEFA today reconfirmed its position regarding the design element on the front of the Ukraine national team shirt. Considering that the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 which was widely approved by the member states, recognizes the territorial borders as broadly depicted by the design, UEFA does not require any modifications of this design element as it meets the criteria laid out in Article 12 of the UEFA Equipment Regulations," it said in a comment for UNIAN.
Read alsoKuleba responds to those "hissing" at Ukraine football team's new kitUEFA also confirmed that the slogan on the outside of the shirt "Glory to Ukraine" was approved in 2018 and reiterated that UEFA considers this to be in accordance with Article 13 and Article 19 of the UEFA Equipment Regulations. "This slogan on its own may be considered as a generic and non-political phrase of general national significance and therefore may be used on the national team shirt," it said.
"UEFA then carefully considered the recently added slogan on the inside of the collar 'Glory to [the] Heroes,' which was included in the new shirt sample submitted to UEFA which was subsequently validated in December 2020. At that time however, the significance created by the combination of the two slogans was not considered. 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 must therefore be removed for use in UEFA competition matches, in accordance with Article 5 of the UEFA Equipment Regulations," it said.
Ukraine's new soccer kit for Euro 2020
- On June 6, 2021, Ukraine's new kit was unveiled days before the European Championship, Euro 2020, kicks off on June 11. The national team shirt emblazoned with a map of Ukraine that includes Crimea is designed in three colors: yellow, blue, and white.
- The front of the yellow jersey shows Ukraine's borders in white. The top of the back under the collar says: "Glory to Ukraine!". Inside the shirt, there is the slogan saying: "Glory to the Heroes!"
- Russian State Duma Deputy Dmitry Svishchev has already called on UEFA to ban the Ukrainian national team from playing at Euro 2020 in a new uniform with Ukraine's map that includes Crimea. And ex-boxer Nikolai Valuev said: "This is an attempt to politicize sports, this is ugly." The Russian Foreign Ministry also responded to Ukraine's new soccer kit – its spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Telegram that the slogans were nationalistic.
- However, UEFA approved the new uniform for the Ukrainian national team.
- The Russian Football Union, meanwhile, applied to UEFA over the new design of the Ukrainian national team's jersey.
- Ukraine play their opening Euro 2020 match against the Netherlands in Amsterdam on June 13, and also face Austria and North Macedonia in Group C.
