After having evacuated the question for a long time and kicked into touch, Fifa has decided to take action. According to information from the New York Times and FranceInfo, which we are able to confirm, the International Football Federation decided on Monday, together with its European counterpart UEFA, to exclude Russia from the next World Cup in Qatar.
Information made public via a press release published by the two authorities at 6:30 p.m. “Following the initial decisions adopted by the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, which provided for the adoption of additional measures, FIFA and UEFA have today jointly decided that all Russian teams, whether whether they are national representative teams or club teams, will be suspended from participating in FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice”.
Fifa worked with the European Confederation (UEFA) to act on Monday this decision, which would exclude Russia from the 2022 World Cup, scheduled for November 21 to December 18, “unless the situation improves”, explained a little more earlier a source at AFP. A decision that corresponds to what many Federations are asking for in retaliation for the Russian attack.
“I lean towards an exclusion of Russia from the next World Cup, declared Noël Le Graët, president of the French Federation, in our columns on Sunday. This is my first impulse. Usually, I believe that sport is there to reconcile people and ease tensions. But this is going much too far. And the world of sport, and in particular football, cannot remain neutral. I will certainly not oppose an exclusion of Russia. »
“Football is fully united and in full solidarity with all those affected in Ukraine,” concludes the press release from Fifa and UEFA. The two Presidents 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. In the process, the Russian Football Federation on Monday denounced a “discriminatory” measure. She says she “totally disagrees with the decision of Fifa and UEFA to suspend the Russian teams” and believes that this measure “will have a discriminatory effect on a large number of athletes, coaches, club employees or the national team”.
The women’s team excluded from the Euro
The Russians were not sportingly qualified for this tournament. They were to win their ticket in a play-off match scheduled for March 24 against Poland. But the Poles have repeated several times that they would categorically refuse to play it, even on neutral ground as the FIFA office had proposed on Sunday evening. According to our information, the exclusion of Russia automatically qualifies Poland for the final of the play-offs, against the winner of the match Sweden – Czech Republic.
The decision of Fifa and UEFA also concerns Spartak Moscow, engaged in the round of 16 of the Europa League, against RB Leipzig. Similarly, the Russian women’s team is deprived of the Euro scheduled for this summer. In basketball, the Euroleague, the main European competition, has also announced the exclusion of Russian clubs.
Fifa is thus 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.