Intention or ignorance? UEFA upset Slavie fans

Prague Slavia had their hands full in the Conference Europa League group stage until the last round. Finally, thanks to a thrilling performance in Berlin, they managed to advance from a difficult group to the spring part of the competition. There, they will face the traditional Turkish team Fenerbahce Istanbul.

Fans of both teams are already looking forward to the duel and especially Fenerbahce fans are very confident about Slavia! Their reactions on social media are the least evidence of that.

UEFA itself has added fuel to the fire from the point of view of the Susians. On Twitter, it wanted to stir up a discussion between the fans of both clubs, but considering the past, it didn’t go down well with Slavia.

What’s the point? UEFA shared a picture on the Conference League page with three former Slavians and three former Fenerbahce players and invited both camps to pick their three favourite players.

Where’s the catch? UEFA gave the Slavs two defectors to choose from! Patrik Berger and Karel Poborsky have stuck in the football public’s memory as Spartans after all.

The only positive from Slavia’s point of view is that UEFA did the same with at least one player from the Fenerbahce selection. Mehmet Topal is now with rival Besiktas.

The question is whether UEFA did it on purpose or not. Either way, it got its way, the debate is in full swing.

Fans were quick to get into each other’s arms and get heated. Fenerbahce supporters often used phrases along the lines of Alex being bigger than Slavia, even writing in hyperbole that he was bigger than the whole of Czechoslovakia.

Slavic fans showed their displeasure with the inclusion of the two defectors and clearly voted for Tomas Soucek, and they didn’t argue with Fenerbahce either. “Soucek > pesky Asians,” wrote one of the supporters of Susians, who pointed out that Fenerbahce is already in the Asian part of Istanbul.

Source: UEFA Conference League