Kyiv, October 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Sports Arenas of Ukraine state concern has said that Arena Lviv will continue to remain a major sports and cultural facility in western Ukraine even if FIFA makes a final decision to ban the holding of World Cup qualifiers with Ukraine at the stadium.
“Concerts with the participation of Ukrainian and foreign stars of show business, as well as various cultural and entertainment events, will be held here. Moreover, negotiations are continuing with FC Karpaty on the holding of the matches of a popular football club in the region at the main arena in Halychyna,” the concern said in a statement released by its press service on Tuesday.
The statement notes that the Sports Arenas of Ukraine and the Arena Lviv state enterprise respect FIFA’s decision, but the organization received no official explanations regarding the verdict of September 27, 2013, which was posted on FIFA’s official Web site.
The concern expressed hope that an appeal lodged by the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) against FIFA’s decision would lead to the softening of sanctions against the Arena Lviv stadium. It also said that immediately after reports on violations at the stadium all video footage captured by surveillance cameras had been handed over to law enforcement agencies.
As reported, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee at a meeting on September 27 decided that the 2014 World Cup qualifier between Ukraine and Poland in Kharkiv on October 11 would be played without spectators. In addition, Ukraine will be banned from playing in the Arena Lviv stadium as of September 27 and for the whole duration of the preliminary competition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
