Luck of the draw prevents scheduling conflict for The Wall Live in Sofia
The Uefa Champions League play-off round draw resolved the brewing stadium row in Bulgaria, preventing the scheduling conflict between Ludogorets Razgrad’s match and Roger Waters’ The Wall Live show.
Both events will take place at the Vassil Levski national stadium in Sofia – the match because Ludogorets’ own grounds do not meet Uefa criteria to host a game at this stage of the competition; The Wall Live because Waters’ visual masterpiece requires so much space.
Because Ludogorets was drawn first, it will play its home game against FC Basel on August 20/21, giving the concert crew plenty of time to time to set up for the show on August 30.
The possible scheduling conflict became the subject of heated debate in recent day in Bulgaria, after Ludogorets’ owner Kiril Domouschiev complained that the national stadium had been booked months in advance for the concert.
He blamed the stadium’s management, saying his team might be forced to play its home game abroad and issued a not-so-subtle threat that he would stop his investment in the club if the was not allowed to play on the national stadium.
Domuschiev’s angry tirade prompted a response from Bulgaria’s Sports Minister Mariana Georgieva who said that the team will play at Vassil Levski national stadium whatever date the draw assigns for its home match – regardless of the impact this might have for The Wall Live.
Concert organisers Sofia Music Enterprises (SME) said that they did not have a back-up plan for a different location, but SME manager said that a compromise solution could be found – by asking Uefa to swop the home and away dates of Ludogorets’ matches.
Fortunately, the draw in Nyon on August 9 made such juggling unnecessary and both the football match and The Wall Live can go ahead as scheduled.
(Photo: Uefa.com)
