On Monday, all the Russian teams have been suspended from all international soccer including qualifying matches for the World Cup that will take place this year as the nation was pushed toward pariah status in sports after showing aggression against Ukraine.
The European soccer authority UEFA along with the world soccer body have banned the national clubs and teams of Russia from their competitions until further notice. The men’s national team of Russia had previously qualified for the World Cup playoffs in mere three weeks of time. As per the joint statement released by FIFA and UEFA, football was fully united and was in full solidarity with the people who are getting affected in Ukraine due to the ongoing conflict.
These high-level punishments involving politics and sports had not been seen in a decade. This decision came after the IOC (International Olympic Committee) had pushed numerous sports governing bodies across the world to exclude Russian athletes and officials from taking part in international events. The IOC stated that this decision was necessary to protect the integrity of international sports competitions and to ensure the safety of all the participants as well.
Denying Russian athletes a place on the international scale would affect the nation financially and psychologically along with the image that will be tarnished as an elite sports powerhouse. In a statement by UEFA, it has also ended its sponsorship with the Russian energy giant Gazprom. Russia has now been excluded by FIFA from the upcoming World Cup playoff against Poland on March 24. Poland had already refused to play with Russia.
UEFA has also decided to take the last remaining Russians in the European club competition this season, Spartak Moscow, out of the 2nd tier Europe League. Spartak was scheduled to take on its opponent on March 10 and March 17, Leipzig of Germany has now advanced directly to the quarterfinals, as per the statements released by the UEFA.
Russia has now been isolated in a similar way to the Yugoslavian teams in 1992 after a war had broken out in the Balkans, or the way South African teams and athletes were banned in the 1970s and the 80s during the era of racial discrimination and segregation also called the apartheid. The decisions taken by FIFA and UEFA could actually be challenged in the Court of Arbitration for Sport located in Lausanne.
Earlier, the IOC had urged sports bodies for the exclusion of the athletes and officials of Russia from international sports including the Soccer’s World Cup. It is still unclear how the request made by the International Olympics Committee can impact the hockey players of Russia in the NHL or the Tennis Players in the Grand Slam including the top-ranked Daniil Medvedev.
