Soccer’s governing body in Cyprus has postponed all first division matches this weekend after a bombing damaged the car of a top referee in the country.
The move comes ahead of an exhibition game between the United States and Ukraine next Wednesday that was moved from Kharkiv because of violence in Ukraine.
Police say an explosive device was placed on the hood of referee Leontios Trattos’ car and it exploded early Friday in a parking lot outside his apartment in a Nicosia suburb. No one was injured, but his car and another vehicle were damaged.
Trattos is the president of the Cyprus’ referees’ association and he has overseen international matches. It wasn’t immediately clear why Trattos may have been targeted.
LAST week, AEL played Apollon in the Limassol derby and a couple of days before the game it was announced that Leontios Trattos would be refereeing.
Immediately, a picture was circulating the web showing the AEL chairman sitting next to Trattos, as alleged speculation that he would be favouring them to win the game started spreading. Apollon won the game but several videos were made showing mistakes made by the referee.