The sports laws oblige Azerbaijan to permit Henrikh Mkhitaryan's entry to Azerbaijan, Nikita Simonyan, Acting President of the Russian Sports Federation says.
The Azeri media outlets report about possible refusal to permit midfielder for German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Armenian national football team Henrikh Mkhitaryan's entry to Azerbaijan for the October 22 Borussia-Gabala match. It is also reported that on arriving in Baku, Mkhitaryan may be arrested on charge of illegal crossing of the Azerbaijani state border. Henrikh Mkhitaryan visited the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in 2011.
"If Mkhitaryan is not allowed to take part in the match, either he or his club will have to apply to the UEFA, given that Azerbaijan has no legal grounds to prevent him from playing for Borussia in Azerbaijan. So, Baku's obstacles will roughly violate the football laws, Simonyan says to championat.com.
For his part, UEFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino said at a press conference in Monaco that his organization will do its best to help Mkhitaryan to take part in the Borussia-Gabala match in Baku.
Sasha Fligge, Director of Communication of Borussia Dortmund, hopes that the rumors disseminated by the Baku-based media outlets have nothing to do with the reality. Fligge says that Mkhitaryan is an extremely important player for Borussia.