Castration to VG: – – Did not know what the word...

The microphones on the inner court caught on that Kastrati called Vålerenga coach Dag-Eilev Fagermo a “sweeper”, something the striker himself admitted bluntly in a break interview with Eurosport.

– Probably the whole of Norway will think that this is the worst excuse a football player has ever made, but the truth is that I did not know what “sweep” means. Unfortunately, I have heard it far too many times, and I thought it meant something like “idiot”, says Kastrati to the newspaper.

His outcome against Fagermo became the big talking point in Sunday’s elite series round and created strong reactions. Kastrati was replaced when the coach became aware of what he had said, and both the club and the football association have announced reactions.

Minister of Culture and Gender Equality Abid Raja (V) and leader Inge Alexander Gjestvang in Fri, the association for gender and sexuality diversity, were among those who strongly opposed Kastrati’s vocabulary.

Tough night

Kastrati did not give interviews after the match, but VG got him to speak later and writes that he was shaking in his voice and expressed that he was in pain.

– It’s incredibly heavy right now. I have not been able to gather my thoughts, and I will not be able to sleep at all. It will be a tough night, he tells the newspaper.

He says he is prepared to take his punishment from both the club and the federation, but that he hopes he is believed that he did not mean to incite gays.

Shamefully ignorant

– I come from a tough environment, and exactly that expression has been said thousands of times. I hope that by telling the truth, that I have been shamefully ignorant, I can be forgiven. Not by NFF or KBK, but by those I have made it harder for. I have been an outsider all my life, and the last thing I want is to incite someone, he says.

According to VG, Kastrati receives support from Sandnes-Ulf player Johannes Hummelvold-Nunez, who writes on Twitter that he recently called an opponent “sweeper” without knowing what the word means.

– I checked it out when the opponent reacted as he did. In retrospect, I regret it. I have nothing against gays. It is obviously not a good word to use, and of course it never happens again, he writes.