Adenekan Adedamola, a Nigerian who plays for the KS Grom Kąkolewnica club, went with his team to Terespol (Lublin Voivodeship) near the Polish-Belarusian border. When he was going to the store, a border guard patrol noticed him. The man did not have the required documents with him, so he was taken to the Border Guard facility to clarify the matter. His teammates had to play without him. They won.
– Nobody expected that such a situation would arise. If he had the required documents with him, it would probably take about two minutes, and he had to be replaced by a substitute – says Maciej Hukaluk, secretary of the management board of KS Grom Kąkolewnica.
The club’s players arrived on Wednesday (September 13) in Terespol, which is located near the Polish-Belarusian border. They were supposed to play a match against the local team, Granica Terespol, as part of the Polish Cup.
Adenekan Adedamola joined KS GROM Kąkolewnica at the beginning of the seasonKS GROM Kąkolewnica
He has been in Poland since 2021
Among the visiting team’s players was 29-year-old winger Adenekan Adedamola, playing with number 13 – a Nigerian who has been in Poland since 2021 and plays for various football clubs. At the beginning of the current season, he joined the team from Kąkolewnica.
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As we read on the website lublin24.pl, which described the case, the man went to the store an hour before the match (scheduled for 4:30 p.m.).
He went to the shop. He did not return to the field
“I wanted to buy a drink and something to eat before going onto the pitch. Guards quickly appeared in front of the store. They asked for documents,” Adedamola told lublin24.pl.
Due to the location of Terespol, border guard patrols are not unusual.
– They noticed him when he was crossing the street near the pitch. He later said that he had an expired residence card with him, but he did not have a stamp stating that he had applied for an extension of the card. He also stated that although he did not have a passport, he had an electronic copy of it on his phone. Apparently, this was not enough, so he was taken to a border guard facility – describes Hukaluk.
Naturally, the match had to be played without Adedamola. Grom defeated its rival in a penalty shootout. It was 9 to 8.
– After the match, some of our team waited for Adi to leave the facility. The procedure dragged on until 11 p.m., reports a club representative.
“I was simply amazed and confused why I was detained for so long, knowing full well that I could live in Poland. I paid a fine for not having all the documents with me,” the footballer told a local portal.
Border guard: identity had to be confirmed in databases
The spokesman for the Commander of the Bug River Border Guard Unit, Captain Dariusz Sienicki, reminds that foreigners who are going to the state border area should take their passport and residence card with them.
– You should also have these documents in paper form. It will save time. In this case, the man’s identity had to be confirmed in IT databases, he informs.
The club’s representative emphasizes that although the whole situation caused the player some stress, he accepted what happened calmly.
Adenekan Adedamola plays with number 13KS GROM Kąkolewnica
Main photo source: KS GROM Kąkolewnica