Eurocup autumn is entering its decisive stage. In the last rounds, many meetings turn out to be truly fateful for the teams: only a couple of points can separate them from a ticket to the playoffs, which means one victory or one defeat.

One of these confrontations was supposed to take place in the Czech Republic as part of the Conference League, but the referee had to end an important game … already in the 7th minute.

The Georgian referee simply could not see the players!

The game was interrupted for an unexpected reason

In the Conference League, it’s time for the matches of the fifth round. In group D, the Czech club Slovacko and the German Cologne were supposed to play their match. Both teams still have chances to advance to the spring stage. To continue the struggle in the tournament, each club needed only a victory. But in the very first minutes, the meeting was unexpectedly stopped for a reason that is difficult to meet in international matches.

The Slovacko team is based in the small Czech town of Uherske Hradiste, with a population of 25,000. Naturally, there is no reason to build a huge stadium in such a small town. The local team still will not gather many spectators in the stands. Miroslav Valenta city football stadium is designed for a little more than 8,000 seats. There is no need to talk about any indoor arena. The stadium does not even have a closed circuit of stands.

The game at Slovacko’s home field was supposed to start in the first time pool, simultaneously with other matches of the game day in the Conference League. But the refereeing team that appeared at the stadium a few minutes before the start of the game literally did not see the field – it was shrouded in dense fog, for which the low stands of the arena did not become an obstacle.

Photo: © REUTERS / Radovan Stoklasa

The main referee of the meeting, Giorgi Kruashvili, made a logical decision to move the start to a later time, hoping that the vagaries of the weather would leave the stadium alone. But over the allotted period, the situation has not changed much. After a short meeting with assistants and a delegate, he decided to still blow the starting whistle.

But the match did not last even seven minutes. The referee simply did not see what was happening on the field a few meters from him!

– The match between Cologne and Slovacko has been cancelled. The reason for this was thick clouds of fog, which made the game impossible. Initially, the meeting was rescheduled for 75 minutes to 20:00. Tomorrow at 13:00, the game will continue from the seventh minute.

The teams got an extra day to prepare for the most important meeting. Let’s see who will better use the gift of nature, and who will blame the ill-fated fog.