The Football Federation of Macedonia has issued a response to David Babunski’s negative comments about the federation.

David Babunski has caused a lot of debate among football fans in Macedonia after openly criticizing FFM for their bad organization of Macedonia U21’s away trip to Portugal. Babunski posted a Facebook status update which saw more than 2.500 likes and 160 shares, many of them from current active footballers.

FFM has now replied to the commends made by David:

“The Football Federation of Macedonia denies the rumors about the improper organization of Macedonia U21’s away match against Portugal. Our national team arrived in Portugal two days before the match. They were accommodated in a 4 star hotel, 29 kilometers away from the football pitch or a 30 minute road trip, and they had time for two trainings. In order to have more time to prepare for this important match, FFM has rescheduled the first league round that was interfering with this match. Manager Boban Babunski and his team were given two options for traveling to Portugal, and he chose the best. The manager himself has publicly stated several days ago that the conditions for work are excellent and that the U21 team is treated no worse than the A national team.

FFM is constantly pointing out that the pitch is the place where every sportsman, and especially a young footballer at the start of his career, should build his character, sports spirit and develop his potential.

It is really irresponsible for any individual to seek an excuse for a failure, and that excuse always to be directed towards FFM. Each footballer should show his work and courage on the pitch and not seek excuses for himself. Defeats are part of the game, they should be experience and should then serve as motivation to correct them in the future, to work harder and stay positive.

These comments do not bode well towards FFM’s stature. In the past two years, FFM has confirmed their commitment for true football values.”

This response above is from FFM.

Additionally, this was the statement given by Boban Babunski, the U21 manager who is also David’s father:

Boban said, “We are surprised by certain comments on social media. We consider the organization to be at the highest level. Our team has never before had support like we do now. FFM has fulfilled all of our requests for the match. As a coaching staff, we only have comments about the organization by the Football Federation of Portugal regarding the pitches and trainings. However, we have faced a stronger team than ours at the moment and we must not point excuses at any other place. We hope to bring self confidence back for the next matches and achieve positive results. We have potential and that is why we are going to remain united.”