Chairman of the UAF Stadiums and Competition Safety Committee - on compliance with the requirements of the regulations on the st

Andriy Taran, Chairman of the UAF Stadiums and Competition Safety Committee, spoke about compliance with the regulations regarding the timely start of matches.

"Currently, the official broadcaster of the UPL broadcasts the matches of the Ukrainian Championship on cable networks and OTT platforms. While for OTT platforms, a delay of one or two minutes in the start of matches is not too important, for cable networks, every second counts. Broadcasters have clear time slots and a well-established broadcast schedule. It should also be remembered that UPL matches are also shown by foreign broadcasters, who also have strict requirements for the time slots for the start of matches and serious sanctions in case of violation.

At meetings before matches, UAF delegates constantly emphasise strict compliance with these requirements. The countdown to the start of the match is a universal document that each club develops independently, taking into account the specifics of the stadium and the time features of each process. The delegate's direct responsibilities include checking that the clubs have completed the processes described in the countdown.

All pre-match activities, such as leaving the dressing rooms for the football pitch, playing the national anthem, a minute's silence, taking photographs, participation of defence forces in symbolic kicks or other agreed and permitted pre-match activities, must be completed by the time the match is scheduled to start. These are the requirements for matches organised by UEFA. And there, violations are not counted in minutes, but in seconds. Every second of delay means serious financial penalties for the match organisers.

Just like a delegate at international matches, the UAF delegate at UPL matches records all the violations he or she sees at the match. These violations are then considered at a meeting of the UAF Control and Disciplinary Committee. It determines what sanctions, if any, are applied in a particular case.

Delaying the start of the match by several minutes is a serious violation. The match delegate cannot fail to record it in his reports, otherwise sanctions will be applied to him by our committee.

When planning pre-match activities, it should be understood that the kick-off, i.e. the introduction of the ball into the game, is performed, for example, by a non-soldier who is not participating in such an action. This is just one of the possible pre-match activities. And the match starts when, after the referee's whistle, a footballer from one of the teams that have entered the field kicks the ball," Andriy Taran told the UAF press service.

It will be recalled that in accordance with the decision of the UAF Executive Committee, for the duration of martial law, the funds received by the UAF as mandatory cash contributions from clubs under the decisions of the UAF Control and Disciplinary and Appeal Committees are transferred to the United24 platform.