Mar 1, 2022: According to a report by Reuters, FIFA and UEFA have suspended Russia’s national teams and clubs from international football until further notice due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The move makes it likely that Russia will be excluded from this year’s World Cup and the women’s Euro 2020 tournament.
The UEFA statement said, “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,” they added.
Russia had to host Poland in the World Cup qualifying play-off on March 24 and if they are suspended then they will be out of the World Cup and will not be able to advance to the final in Qatar in November. The Polish FA had said it would refuse to play against the Russian team, and the Czech Republic and Sweden, which are in the same play-off, had also refused to face Russia.
Russia’s only way to reach the playoffs is a sudden improvement in the situation in Ukraine, which will lead to the lifting of the suspension.
Earlier on Monday, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board recommended sports federations to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from competing in events.
Russia hosted the last World Cup in 2018 with the final held in Moscow and attended by President Vladimir Putin.
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