Europa League football match halted by drone flying flag of disputed Nagorno-Karabakh

Europa League football match halted by drone flying flag of disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
By Euronews
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button

A Europa League match at Luxembourg's Josy Barthel stadium was briefly suspended after a drone carrying the flag of a region disputed by Azerbaijan and Armenia flew onto the pitch.

ADVERTISEMENT

A Europa League match at Luxembourg's Josy Barthel stadium was suspended for a short time on Thursday after a drone carrying the flag of a region disputed by Azerbaijan and Armenia flew onto the pitch

The game, between Luxembourg's F91 Dudelange and Azerbaijan's FK Qarabag, was halted for 15 minutes as players kicked a ball at it to try and bring it down.

It was spotted carrying the flag of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The former Soviet states of Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war over the mountainous region in the early 1990s.

Thousands were killed on both sides. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.

The war ended with a truce in 1994, although there has been sporadic violence since.

It is also home to a population of majority ethnic Armenians.

FK Qarabag originally comes from Agdam, a now-ghost town in Nagorno-Karabakh, but moved to be based in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku in 1993 during the conflict in the region.

Following the disruption on Thursday evening, FK Qarabag went on to win the Group A match 4-1 putting them second in the table on points below Sevilla.

Meanwhile, F91 Dudelange tweeted an apology to fans over the drone incident, and said it would "figure it out".

The team added: "We had nothing to do with this provocation."

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Stoltenberg says presidential elections in Russia 'neither free nor fair'

Russian campaigns against Putin from Armenia mountains

From the battlefield to the pitch: Ukraine's war amputees find solace in football