Updated
The governing body of world football has excluded the Russian selection from international competitions, including the World Cup.
Gianni Infantino (left), President of FIFA, and Vladimir Putin (right), President of Russia, side by side during the 2018 World Cup.
AFP
Russia has been excluded from the World Cup by its organizer, FIFA, which announced on Monday the suspension of national teams and Russian clubs “until further notice”, in reaction to the invasion of Ukraine, in a joint statement with UEFA. The Russians, hosts of the last World Cup in 2018, are therefore disqualified from the play-offs of the next edition, which they were to play at the end of March with a ticket at stake for the tournament in Qatar (November 21-December 18). In addition, their female selection will not be able to play the Euro in England in July. Spartak Moscow, the last Russian club engaged in the European Cup this season, is also excluded from the Europa League before facing RB Leipzig in the round of 16.
“Football here is totally united and in full support of everyone affected in Ukraine. The two presidents (editor’s note: Gianni Infantino for FIFA and Aleksander Ceferin for UEFA) hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and quickly so that football can once again be a vector of unity and peace between peoples”, FIFA and UEFA jointly explain in a press release.
Russia was due to play a play-off on March 24 against Poland, but the Poles have repeatedly said they will refuse to play it, even on neutral ground.
FIFA and UEFA are thus partially following the position of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which on Monday recommended to the International Federations “not to invite” Russian and Belarusian athletes and teams to international sports competitions.
UEFA part ways with Gazprom
Deprived of the Qatari World Cup, Russia finds itself isolated by the sports world, pending the decisions of the International Paralympic Committee, which planned to speak on Wednesday, two days before the start of the Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Several national federations, including that of the French world champions, had said they were in favor of an outright exclusion of Russia from the World Cup, a major sporting event of the year 2022.
UEFA also severed Monday “with immediate effect” its partnership with the Russian giant Gazprom, one of its main sponsors since 2012.
The contract was estimated at 40 million euros per year according to specialized media, and covered the Champions League, international competitions organized by UEFA as well as Euro 2024, which will be organized in Germany.
(AFP)