Veres president Ivan Nadein explained why the club voted for Minaj to replace Dnipro-1 in the UPL.
Ivan Nadein"We have already voiced our position. The discussion was about holding the Tournament of Four, which is definitely not a sporting principle, because, first of all, the championship has already ended and its results have been established.
The sporting principle is that the 15th-ranked team should be eligible for a replacement after one of the teams withdraws. This is generally in accordance with the regulations - if Dnipro-1 had withdrawn before June 7, when the League summed up the season, then there would have been no conflict at all and Minaj would have come in.
Therefore, our position was based on the fact that if Dnipro-1 had submitted this letter on time, this whole situation would not have happened at all and Minaj would have played - the regulations are unambiguous. And then we would have retained our place in the European Cups, which Ukraine has actually lost, and there would have been no problems at all. But based on the fact that we have entered a conflict, let's call it that, when a decision of the meeting is needed, most clubs voted for a position where Minaj, if Minaj refuses, is next, followed by Metalist 1925, and then by Left Bank. This is a sporting principle.
Holding a tournament when there are already other teams and no time - it seems to me that this is utopia and it will be funny when to play? It would be better for them to play chess with the four of them, it would be faster and determine who the winner is. This decision is utopian. That's why we voted for it. But we also proposed to increase the league, but so far we have not received such support among the league members. We had an option to increase the league to 18 clubs, but this issue was not discussed in principle.
This will be a sporting principle, and the main thing here is to reach an agreement for the future so that there is no precedent, because if we solve all future issues with controversial non-regulatory tournaments, then any controversial moment can be resolved in this way: "Let's play a tournament". This is also not a way out of the situation - there is a clear position that the top league club has an advantage. The standings are the greatest sports principle, the most honest and effective," Nadein said.
