The Zaporizhzhia Football Association NGO has issued a statement to the UAF in connection with the latter's failure to comply with the principle of equality of participants in the competition.
Here is the document in full.
ZAPORIZHZHIA FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
Public organisation "Zaporizhzhya Football Association" EDRPOU code 43823848
Ukraine, 69114, Zaporizhzhia region, Zaporizhzhia city.
STATEMENT.
The basis of any sport is respect and equality of athletes in achieving victory.
The Zaporizhzhia Football Association cannot and will not stand aside from the fact of discrimination and disrespect for the participants of the competition.
On 04 May, a meeting was held in the 4+1+1 format between the First League's "leading clubs" and the UAF and PFL management. According to the statement of UAF President Andriy Pavelko, the meeting discussed the possibility of using VAR, which applies to all participants in the First League, of which our Zaporizhzhia club IFC Metalurg is a member.
The basis of the basics is the invariability of the rules and conditions of the game during the game until the end of the championship.
If one or more participants have a particular proposal that concerns each participant, then these issues should be discussed by all, and not behind the scenes, which happened. In our opinion, such behind-the-scenes discussions cause considerable damage to the sporting process.
The territorial community of Zaporizhzhia, after losing the investor of PFC Metallurg and its subsequent bankruptcy, decided to preserve the football traditions of the city of metallurgists by establishing the municipal enterprise City Football Club Metallurg.
The city's football community supports the club and is very outraged by this attitude,
or rather, the neglect of Zaporizhzhia football by the country's football authorities.
Yes, the city of Zaporizhzhia is not the richest among the owners of the First League clubs, but it is the most populous - 710 thousand people. At the same time, we are confident that a fairly large proportion of residents of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, including those in the territories under temporary occupation, support the club that represents the region of Ukraine.
The division of clubs into "leaders" of the championship and not is the prerogative of journalists, and in no case the organisation that conducts the competition, because it is discrimination and disrespect for other participants.
We urge you to observe equality and democratic principles in discussions and decision-making concerning all participants.
Borys ROSSOKHA, Chairman of the ZAF
