Editorial: A Message to UEFA!

By: Peter Katsiris | December 5th, 2008

Now to some this might seem to be a case of being a sore loser, but in all honesty this article is more about the laws of football than it is about an Olympiacos match.

On Wednesday night, in a chilly Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv, Olympiacos was narrowly beaten by Metalist Kharkiv. A result which allowed the victors to book a spot in the first knockout round of the UEFA Cup, while Olympiacos are forced to take care of business at home against Hertha Berlin in two weeks time.

Despite the result being nothing but disappointing for a club which was in optimal form prior to their trip to Ukraine, the main issues which plagued the Piraeus club – who aren’t the first to be affected, but hopefully the last – were disgusting at all levels; however, there are ways to avoid some of these issues in the future, while others should already be non-existent.

Now don’t be quick to assume I am angry about the two-hour wait Olympiacos experienced at Kiev’s International Airport; instead, I am more concerned about what transpired in Kharkiv and not in Kiev.

Clearly Eastern Europe doesn’t enjoy such luxurious weather as Greece or its Mediterranean neighbours, and that is understandable. Surely it’s not the most comfortable climate to play in, but that is what sweaters and turtlenecks are for.

Now extra clothing will keep you warm, but it definitely won’t keep you on your feet. With such a bitter climate, it appears the pitch inside the Metalist Stadium had been stranded without the proper nourishment to live up to a luscious field of grass. Now the UEFA Champions League has made many headlines in recent years over the condition of the pitch, most notably last year’s final in Moscow. With an all-English final set for the Russian capital, hefty adjustments were made to the pitch to assure the venue could stage the final in proper fashion.

Wednesday night’s match between Metalist and Olympiacos was definitely not a Champions League final, nor can it be classified as a Champions League match, but aren’t there standards in place for the UEFA Cup? It is only fair to implement the same guidelines for the Champions League to the UEFA Cup – after all it is also a highly-competitive European competition.

With that being said, there should be – unless there is already – responsibility placed upon the shoulders of the home club to assure the condition of the venue, specifically the pitch, is up to standards. Some readers by now will probably ask “Is this guy for real?” or “Are you serious?” or even “Μιλάς σοβαρά;”, and you better believe I am serious. Olympiacos did not just lose the game on Wednesday; they also lost one of the club’s most important players in Vasilis Torosidis. Now although the injury is just another short-term absence for the Greece international, conditions like Metalist Stadium could have allowed losses of greater magnitude.

To avoid such situations, in all scenarios where club’s must host a match in a climate which is bitter, clubs that have a schedule featuring fixtures in European competitions should be forced to invest in various types of technology to assure the playing ground – grass or turf – is up to standards which allow the match to be played with fluency.

If the quality of the pitch wasn’t bad enough, the disadvantage in footwear certainly was. Now you could blame it on poor pre-game scouting, but Olympiacos looked lost within the tundra-like surface of the Metalist Stadium. With the likes of Didier Domi and Avraam Papadopoulos only a sample of the many members of ‘O Thrylos’ slipping and falling all over the pitch, it was clear the proper footwear was not made being used by the Greek Champions. It was made even more significant with the realization that Metalist had little trouble coping with the field.

There are surface-level reasons as to why Metalist had little trouble with the field, with home advantage the main excuse for such an event; however, in truth the word ‘advantage’ could be tainted with ‘illegal’ when reviewing pictures. Although the pictures are blurry since players are in motion when the photographer pressed the capture button, it seems Metalist used some sort of extra-long stud.

In this particular match the extra-long stud found at the bottom of several Metalist players only led to the superior grip for the Ukrainian outfit, but such accessories could have led to far different results. With such a lethal component at the bottom of the cleats of several Metalist players, it was very fortunate for Olympiacos that no injuries involving these dangerous accessories transpired in Kharkiv.

FIFA’s official handbook – the bible of world football – has an important note under the classification of player equipment and safety:

Safety
A player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous
to himself or another player (including any kind of jewellery).

Surely it will be tough to charge Metalist of any wrongdoing, and Olympiacos likely won’t do so. Instead of inflicting punishment, the situation should be – for starters further investigated – but also act as a reminder to assure UEFA officials are aware of the equipment used by both sets of players ahead of kickoff in either half.

So as we wrap up this argument, the main point to be made with these suggestions is not that Olympiacos was cheated, but UEFA has deprived its main Cup competition of equality which dictates the procedure of Champions League football.

With the initiation of the newly formed Europa League less than a year away, UEFA should take the offseason to review its standards for the first edition of the Europa League and take the right steps to assure such standards are met for EVERY match.