Georgian football federation “categorically” rejects North Macedonian media claims on team training delay ahead of Nations League match

The Georgian football federation on Friday “categorically” rejected claims in the North Macedonian media that alleged the country's national team had been delayed in their arrival for training at Tbilisi’s Dinamo Arena stadium due to absence of police escort for the team bus.

The claim by Sportmedia journalist Ognen Dojcinovski on Thursday alleged the North Macedonian team had arrived with a delay of 45 minutes to the training as they had been left without Georgian police escort, which is mandated from host countries to be provided for buses of visiting national teams under UEFA rules.

In its response, the GFF called the letter a “lie” and said the team had been “accompanied by a police escort and the road was cleared under UEFA protocol”, adding the squad had arrived at the stadium on time, with their training not being delayed “even by a second”.

The federation added it was “not clear to us” why the “unverified information” had been released by the North Macedonian media.

The Georgian national football team will host North Macedonia on Friday at Dinamo Arena in the fifth round of the UEFA Nations League.

In case of victory or draw, Georgia will win the first place in their group and a promotion to division B of the tournament, while also qualifying for the 2024 European Championship playoff.