European football championships|Banned tickets were visible at the EC opening.
On Friday the race organizers had a problem when at least two Russian flags were hanging at the Allianz Arena in the opening match of the European Championship. The flags evoked strong emotions in Ukraine.
Before the start of the games, the race organization announced that certain tickets would be banned in the fan areas. Unwanted flags include Russian, Israeli and Palestinian flags.
The flag ban in the fan zones didn’t stop a couple of people from hanging Russian flags in full view during the match between Germany and Scotland. One of the flags read Belgorod, a city in western Russia near the Ukrainian border.
There was a furor over the flags in Ukraine. Ukrainian media Obozrevatel would describe it as “the scandal of the day”. Sport.unian website, on the other hand, wrote: “The propagandists are happy”.
In the Ukrainian media we wondered how the Russian flag, which had been declared banned, could be so prominently displayed at the opening of the European Championships without anyone realizing to intervene.
In the media’s comment fields, attention was paid especially to the supervisors, who stand with their eyes very clearly on the tickets.
Ukraine will go to the European Championships on Monday, when the team will face Romania. Russia has not been allowed to participate in any major football tournaments since the invasion of Ukraine began.