Kazakh football club lands in Georgia on match day as Tbilisi bans initial flight due to Russia sanctions

Players and staff of Kazakhstan’s Aktobe football club, scheduled to play Georgia’s Torpedo Kutaisi in the UEFA Europa Conference League later today, arrived in the country early in the morning after a delay following a ban on their original flight with the Russian UVT Aero airline by Georgia’s Civil Aviation Agency due to the international sanctions on it for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Georgian agency on Wednesday said the airline involved in the original flight had been blacklisted by the European Union, with a manufacturer restriction also imposed on the specific aircraft.

It added it worked to issue the permission for the replacement flight by the Kazakh SCAT Airlines “in the shortest terms possible, within two hours” after receiving the company’s application, to enable the club to travel to Georgia.

In its statement on Wednesday, Aktobe claimed its partner Sanjar Tour - which it said had provided air travel services to the club over the past five years - had sent information on the charter flight to the Georgian agency “on time”, before the application was rejected early on Wednesday “without the reasons being explained”. 

The club had to hold its pre-match training at a stadium in the Kazakh city of Aktau, instead of the session being hosted in Georgia, it added. 

The Ramaz Shengelia Stadium in Kutaisi will host the game of the second qualifying round between the clubs at 9 pm.