ISL: Kerala Blasters, Ivan Vukomanovic issue apology for walk off

On Sunday night, Indian Super League outfit Kerala Blasters took to social media to issue a public apology for their walk off during their knockout match against Bengaluru FC in the 2022-23 season.

This comes after the All India Football Federation fined the club Rs. 4 crore, and directed Blasters to issue a public apology, the failure of which could have resulted the fine to go up to Rs. 6 crore.

"We would like to express our sincerest regrets for the events that took place during our knockout match vs Bengaluru FC on March 3rd, 2023. We recognise that our decision to walk off the pitch prematurely was unfortunate and taken in the heat of the moment," the apology started.

"We would like to reiterate our respect for the larger football fraternity and assure everyone that we will take necessary measures to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future," the statement concluded.

The AIFF statement also revealed that Kerala head coach Ivan Vukomanovic has been banned for 10 matches, meaning he won't be able to be a part of the dressing room or the bench, and fined Rs. 5,00,000.

A public apology was demanded from the coach as well, failure of which could take the fine to Rs. 10,00,000.

Vukomanovic also took to his Twitter to issue a statement on that day's happenings.

"These things are not supposed to be seen in sport arenas around the world and I regret being part of such a moment," the statement read.

Kerala Blasters have started preparing for their upcoming Hero Super Cup campaign where they will face Roundglass Punjab on 8th April at the EMS Stadium in Kozhikode.