The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has dismissed protests by the Portuguese Football Federation and Luxembourg over results of matches of their teams against Ukraine in European Championship 2020 games because Ukraine fielded Junior Moraes from the Donetsk club Shakhtar, UEFA's website said on Friday.

"This is a victory for Moraes and Ukrainian football! We will always defend the national team and its players – real patriots of Ukraine, both in UEFA and FIFA. And Junior has already proved that he is a patriot. After all, when many football players left Ukraine after the outbreak of the war in Donbas, Moraes remained loyal to our country, choosing a new homeland for his family and making a conscious civil choice in favor of our state," Ukrainian Football Federation President Andriy Pavelko said.

As reported, on March 27, UEFA opened disciplinary proceedings on the legality of obtaining Ukrainian citizenship by Shakhtar Donetsk player and Ukrainian national football team member Moraes.

On March 25, Ukraine beat Luxemburg on the road with a score of 2:1, and on March 22, tied (0: 0) Portugal. After two rounds in group B of the selection of Euro 2020, Ukraine is in the first place with 4 points. Luxembourg has 3 points, Portugal has 2. Serbia and Lithuania, who have played one match so far, have 1 and 0 points, respectively.

Roman Liashenko