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FIFA and UEFA take extreme measures regarding Russia
This Monday, both bodies, for their part, approved measures applied to the Russian Football Federation on the occasion of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has already caused an impact worldwide as well as the sports world.
The United States and the European Union have imposed economic sanctions on the country governed by Vladimir Putin and, in this case, the highest soccer sports authorities have not been long in coming, expressing in a statement that:
"Regarding the upcoming qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, FIFA has taken good note of the positions expressed via social media by the Polish Football Association, the Czech Republic Football Association and the Swedish Football Association and has already entered into dialogue with all of them. FIFA will remain in close contact to jointly seek appropriate and acceptable solutions."
FIFA together with the Union of European Football Federations (UEFA), following the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), have initially approved that Russian players will not be able to compete under the name of their country and both the flag and the shield are prohibited.
In addition, they added that each meeting scheduled in that country must be held in a neutral field and behind closed doors. On the other hand, it should be noted that the Russian men's soccer team was in second place in Group H and for this reason has not qualified directly for the World Cup in Qatar.
The team led by Valeri Gueórguievich Karpin should go to a playoff scheduled for March 24 where the World Cup quota will be played against Poloni, which by the way, this federation has already reported that it will not play against Russia until the invasion ceases to Ukraine. The recommendations of the IOC are framed in the following statement:
"The IOC Executive strongly urges international sports federations and organizers of sports events around the world to do everything in their power to ensure that athletes or sports officials from Russia or Belarus are not allowed to participate with the name of Russia or Belarus ”.
In the same way, the text states that “Russian or Belarusian citizens, either as individuals or as teams, should be accepted only as neutral athletes or teams. No symbols, colours, flags or national anthems should be displayed”.
Supporting this initiative are also the Federations of France and the Czech Republic. The president of the French body Noël Le Graët expressed in this regard in an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien :
" I am inclined to exclude Russia from the next World Cup. This is my first impulse. Normally, I think that sport is there to reconcile people and ease tensions. But this has gone too far. And the world of sport, and in football, in particular, cannot remain neutral. Of course, I will not oppose the exclusion of Russia."
Suspended the Russian World Cup team and expelled Spartak Moscow from the Europa League
In the same order of ideas, the IOC raised the tone of its recommendations by informing the federations and competent bodies that " they do not invite or allow the participation of Russian or Belarusian athletes or leaders."
Based on this, FIFA and the other competent football authorities, after evaluating the war situation between these two nations and the recommendations of the IOC, made the decision to suspend the Russian National Team from the World Cup in Qatar as well as the impediment of the clubs of the Russian Federation to participate in their respective competitions.
The Office of the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee were the entities in charge of executing the decision and thus it is shown that football has united against the war.
In this way, Gianni Infantino and Aleksander Ceferin, presidents of FIFA and UEFA respectively, apply the measures that are in their hands to contribute so that, in the near future, football can once again be that bridge of peace and unity between countries.
It should be noted that the decision extends to all the national teams of the Russian country, as well as the cancellation of the sponsorship of the Russian company Gazprom after the change of venue of the UEFA Champions League final that was going to be held in Saint Petersburg by the Stade de France of Saint-Denis in Paris.
Similarly, UEFA decided to eliminate Spartak Moscow from the Europa League, who were going to play the round trip matches (March 10 and 17) of the round of 16 of the European club competition against RB Leipzig from Germany, but because of this the Germans become the first club to qualify for the quarterfinals.
In turn, Ukrainian athletes have demanded through an open letter to the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach and the president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Andrew Parsons, the suspension of the National Olympic and Paralympic Committees of Russia and Belarus, where they express that:
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine, supported by Belarus, is a clear violation of the Olympic and Paralympic Charters, a violation that must be firmly sanctioned. If the IOC and IPC refuse to take swift action, they are clearly emphasizing the violation of international law and its own statutes by Russia and Belarus"
For its part, the IOC board decided that it will withdraw the Olympic Order from Putin and other members of the Russian government, as well as the International Judo Federation suspended the highest Russian president from the position of honorary president.
Similarly, the Taekwondo Federation withdrew the 9th dan black belt granted in November 2013.
Reaction of the Russian Football Federation and Spartak Moscow
However, the Russian Football Federation did not take long to respond to the measures applied, which they describe as " discriminatory and contrary to sportsmanship " and therefore " categorically disagree ".
"We believe that this decision is contrary to the rules and principles of international competition, as well as sportsmanship. It is clearly discriminatory in nature and harms a large number of athletes, coaches, club workers and national teams and, what is more importantly, to millions of Russian and foreign fans, whose interests international sports organizations must protect," he said.
Spartak Moscow has also been dissatisfied with the decision and although it expresses that it will abide by the measure, it has not stopped stating that sport " must build bridges, not burn them ".
In the same order of ideas, once the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee was over, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) through its vice president, Luis Rubiales expressed his full support for the decision of FIFA and the UEFA.
