As part of the international effort to isolate Russia from the rest of the world in response to their invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s sports teams are being isolated as well – and soccer is no exception.
On Monday, FIFA and UEFA announced that Russian soccer is banned from all competitions until further notice. Neither their national team nor club teams can compete in any FIFA or UEFA competition.
The Russian national team is less than a month from its final qualifying matches against Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic. A place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is at stake.
Via The New York Times:
“Following the initial decisions adopted by the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, which envisaged the adoption of additional measures, FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice.
“These decisions were adopted today by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, respectively the highest decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”
Breaking News: FIFA will ban Russia and its teams, ejecting the country from qualifying for the 2022 World Cup only weeks before it was to play for one of Europe’s final places in the tournament. UEFA will join FIFA in issuing and honoring the ban. https://t.co/TVD3uh1oUY pic.twitter.com/cqv9ZvVv7h
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 28, 2022
In an additional move, FIFA terminated its deal with Russian energy company Gazprom. The company is a major sponsor of FIFA which Sky Sports reports is worth about £33.4 million ($44.7 million) per year.
Russian soccer team Spartak Moskva, which had been competing in the UEFA Europa League, has been removed from the competition. Their opponent, RB Leipzig has been advanced in their place.
The ban will also extend to the upcoming women’s European Championship later this year.
It’s rare that FIFA acts with such a powerful response to any political event. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine created a level of pressure that not even the global soccer body could avoid taking action.
The post Breaking: FIFA, UEFA Make Decision On Russian Soccer appeared first on The Spun.