UEFA bans Qarabag official for life for ‘racist’ Armenia comments

UEFA said Qarabag official Nurlan Ibrahimov, right, had violated the basic rules of decent conduct. (Facebook Photo)

• Qarabag’s PR and media manager Nurlan Ibrahimov has been banned for life, by UEFA, from ‘exercising any football-related activity’
• In a social media post, which was later deleted, Ibrahimov had called for the killing of ‘all the Armenians, old and young, without distinction’

LAUSANNE: UEFA announced on Thursday it has banned for life a staff member of Azerbaijani football club Qarabag for a social media post that showed “racist behavior” and “incidents of a non-sporting nature.”
The side’s PR and media manager Nurlan Ibrahimov, who was provisionally suspended on November 3, was banned for life from “exercising any football-related activity,” said the disciplinary committee in a statement.
UEFA, which runs the game in Europe, will “ask FIFA to extend this ban to the whole world,” and has also fined Qarabag 100,000 euros ($119,000).
In the social media post, which was later deleted, Ibrahimov had called for the killing of “all the Armenians, old and young, without distinction,” according to the Armenian Football Federation (FFA).
The post came amid the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Following the takeover of the region by Armenia in 1993, Qarabag moved to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
They have gone on to become the country’s leading club and appeared in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2017-18.
After losing in the third qualifying round of this season’s competition, Qarabag dropped into the Europa League, in which they are due to host Turkey’s Sivasspor on Thursday.