Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) confirmed on Wednesday that there will be no minute of silence to remember the victims of Tuesday’s terror attacks at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in Turkey at any of the Euro 2016 quarter-final games.
Three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul’s main airport, killing 41 people and wounding 239. Even though Turkey participated in the tournament in France, they were eliminated after coming in third place in their group, without enough points to progress to the round of 16.
It was previously expected that UEFA would stage a show of support in the upcoming matches because the football governing body allowed all European nations playing the week after last November’s terror attacks in Paris to wear black armbands and hold a minute of silence before kickoff in honour of the victims.
At that time, UEFA issued the following statement: “UEFA wishes to express its support and solidarity to France and to those affected by these horrible acts.”
However, UEFA yesterday stated that it holds minute’s silence when tragedies are “related to football directly, or to one of the participating teams or host country.”