Slavia Prague canceled a friendly match with Slovan Bratislava because the Slovak champions played a friendly match with Russian club Dinamo Moscow. This decision was announced by Jaroslav Tvrdik, the president of Slavia, who stated that their views on the war against Ukraine differ from Slovan’s. This move was met with criticism from fans of the Slovak club.

In response, the Czech club will play against another Slovak team, Zlate Moravce, and the proceeds from the match will be donated to Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia nearly two years ago. Meanwhile, Slovan defended their decision to play against Dinamo, asserting that they did not violate any rules and rejecting accusations that they are legitimizing armed conflict. They emphasized their opposition to any form of war.

Russian clubs have been excluded from European competitions since the invasion, while Ukrainian teams have had to play their matches abroad. When UEFA and its president, Aleksander Ceferin, decided to reinstate Russia’s under-17 team into competitions in September, this sparked opposition from some European federations, leading to UEFA withdrawing the proposal within two weeks.