Call for Uefa to investigate Ukraine flag incident at Champions League final

Ukraine’s FA has called on Uefa to investigate footage of a Manchester City fan at the Champions League final in Istanbul who appears to have been hit by an official trying to confiscate the Ukrainian flag he had brought to the stadium.

Yaakov Kris, 30, who lives in Israel but who is originally from Odesa in southern Ukraine, filmed his altercation with two men on the perimeter of the pitch as they attempted to wrestle the flag from him.

At one point, an official wearing Uefa accreditation and Turkish football federation branded clothing, hit Kris, a business analyst, on his hand. The man also tried to grab Kris’s phone while he was filming the incident.

It is unclear why the officials were trying to remove the Ukrainian flag from the stadium. A number of other national flags were clearly visible within the Atatürk Olympic Stadium, including those of Croatia, Ecuador and Tunisia.

Yuriy Zapisotskiy, general secretary of the Ukrainian FA, said the City fan did not appear to be in breach of any rules and that Kyiv had sought an explanation from Uefa.

He said: “We have already sent in a request for clarification and estimation of the situation and whether there was any breach of Uefa rules by the fan. We are quite sensitive to these things. There has been no response so far.”

A Uefa spokesman said the incident on Saturday evening was “unfortunate” and that there was no prohibition on national flags at the game.

He said: “First of all, please be informed that security inside the stadium is under the responsibility of the local organisers and the local police.

“It was an unfortunate individual initiative from one of the local Turkish police security officers to remove the flag. When the Turkish police match commander was