UEFA Europa Conference League Qualifier Marred by Missed Penalty Call and Multiple Red Cards: Polish Team Appeals to UEFA for Replay

In the third round of the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers, despite winning 3-2 at home against Swiss team St. Gallen, Polish side Wroclaw was eliminated on an aggregate score of 3-4, falling short of advancing to the playoff round. Wroclaw is extremely dissatisfied with the refereeing decisions during the match and has lodged an appeal with UEFA, requesting a replay.

The Wroclaw side believes that the match referee, Duje Strukan from Croatia, missed at least one penalty call and issued three red cards to Wroclaw players. Wroclaw’s sporting director, Balda, expressed his anger on social media, stating that he had submitted an appeal to UEFA, detailing the circumstances of the match and hoping that UEFA would arrange a replay.

The coaching staff of Wroclaw stated that after the game, when they sought explanations from the referee, Duje Strukan, he and his assistants expelled them and shut the door to the referees’ room, which caused the Wroclaw coaching staff to nearly break down emotionally, saying, “The refereeing team was against us from the start; it’s very frustrating. Everything about this match was unfair.”

In the first half of the match, Wroclaw led 3-1, bringing the aggregate score to 3-3. However, in the 77th minute of the second half, Wroclaw’s Petkov received his second yellow card and was sent off, followed by Navel being shown a second yellow and sent off in the 12th minute of added time, leaving Wroclaw to play with nine men for the remainder of the game.

Subsequently, Gobess of St. Gallen converted a penalty to make it 2-3, taking the lead with an aggregate score of 4-3. Then, Armando Ortiz of Wroclaw also received two yellow cards and was sent off, reducing Wroclaw to eight men who were unable to change the scoreline, ultimately being eliminated with an aggregate score of 3-4.