Open news feed Close news feed
A A

TURKS REFUSE TO VISIT ARMENIA

Sports

The Turkish Football Federation has officially rejected its disposed tickets for the World Cup qualifier due on September 6, 2010. This news was announced by Ruben Hayrapetyan, President of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) at today’s press conference.

“According to FIFA regulations the host country is obliged to place 5% of match tickets at the visiting country’s disposal, but the Turkish Football Federation has officially refused pointing out that their fans will not arrive in Armenia. Their delegation consists of 130 people”, said the FFA President.

The Armenian national team introduced a new emblem on the occasion of the upcoming Armenia-Turkey match. Its official presentation took place at the beginning of the press conference. Ruben Hayrapetyan explained the change of the FFA emblem by the request of football fan community. Many football fans didn’t like the previous one. But what refers to the point of Mt. Ararat image on the previous one, there were no complaints in this respect and nobody was to prohibit us. We simply considered right to change it to meet the social claim.

Ruben Hayrapetyan excluded that Armenia and Turkey teams can hold an arranged results match taking into consideration the existing political situation between the two countries. “How could respected countries make a deal like that?”

Coming to the footballers’ trainings the FFA President drew attention to the fact that team candidates have already joined the National Team being physically fit. “Yesterday we had part-team slight trainings. Four people hadn’t arrived yet but they have already arrived by now and will take part in today’s trainings. I have talked to the coach and he was pleased with all the candidates. It makes me happy that none of them has any injuries. Yesterday I also conducted a meeting. All the footballers have strong competitive will and it’s indisputable that we will be a success in this match”.

At that gathering Ruben Hayrapetyan aimed the footballers to win the match in the upcoming competition. “The Team has also a task to attain a pass to the World Cup 2010 finals. It has been 6 years I am the president of FFA and I have never set a goal to draw a match. My targets are maximum gains and I always aim the team to win.”

Ruben Hayrapetyan appealed football fans arrive at the Stadium 30-40 minutes before the match. “When there is a big crowd, it’s physically impossible to provide their entrance to the Stadium on a high level”.