The "Shamkir" – "Khankendi" match in the 17th round of the Azerbaijan Second League did not take place due to the similarity in the colors of the teams' uniforms.
Regarding the issue, the PFL stated in response to "Qafqazinfo"'s inquiry that matters related to the game uniform are fully regulated by the Second League Regulations.
"According to the rules, the home team must send the uniform they will use in advance to the relevant authorities and the opposing team, and this should be done no later than 16:00 two days before the match. The guest team then determines its uniform based precisely on this information. Unfortunately, the "Shamkir" club violated the requirement of the Regulations by not providing information about the uniform in advance. The initial problem arose exactly for this reason. Before the match, referees and teams noted the similarity between the uniforms and informed about it. After this, the PFL immediately investigated the matter. The "Shamkir" club informed the PFL that they currently have only one game uniform and the second uniform was not presented due to various reasons. Despite having prepared its uniform in advance, the guest team "Khankendi" changed its uniform by complying with the requests of the referees and the AFFA representative in order to hold the match. However, the referees did not find this option suitable either and stated that problems could arise during the match. As the issue prolonged, the PFL informed both referees and both teams that the match time was set to 16:30, a time chosen considering sunset and to prevent the match from going into darkness. The PFL tried to use alternative options. Firstly, negotiations were held with the "Shamkir" club and they were offered to obtain alternative uniforms. However, the club did not agree to this proposal. In general, despite being the home team, the "Shamkir" club did not propose any options to solve the problem. At the same time, although the guest team "Khankendi" bore no responsibility for the problem according to the Regulations, it managed to find an alternative uniform by fulfilling the demands of the AFFA representative and the PFL for the sake of Azerbaijani football interests in order to hold the match. As a result, by around 16:15, all preparations for holding the match were completed and the teams were informed about it by the AFFA representative," it was emphasized.
It was added that, notwithstanding this, the "Shamkir" club refused to enter the field:
"We note that the PFL took all necessary steps regarding the situation that arose. Immediately after the problem became known, the matter was discussed in an urgent online meeting and all possible means were used to hold the match. We state that, as noted in Article 13 of the Regulations, the main organizer of the match is the AFFA representative. The AFFA representative's requirements before, during, and after the match must be unconditionally fulfilled. Due to the negligence of the "Shamkir" club, the representative could have finalized the protocol and ended the matter even after 30 minutes. However, for the sake of the league's integrity and football, all officials, the PFL, and "Khankendi" took appropriate steps solely to eliminate the negligence of the "Shamkir" club. Addressing all clubs in the person of "Shamkir", we state that all rules regarding the organization of matches are detailed in the relevant competition Regulations. We kindly ask them to fully read and comply with these rules so that such problems do not occur in the future."