While tennis is torn over whether to oust Russian players from tournaments, after Wimbledon’s decision to do so, European football confirms the choice it made two months ago after the invasion of Ukraine: Russian clubs and selections are still not welcome on football grounds.
The former will in this case not be able to participate in the various European cups in 2022-2023, including the lucrative Champions League, UEFA announced on Monday May 2. The governing body of European football has also decided to replace Russia with Portugal for the women’s Euro-2022 this summer (July 6 to 31) in England. The Portuguese had been beaten by the Russians in the jump-off to access the competition.
In a long press release, UEFA lists the measures taken by its Executive Committee against Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, which banished Russian sport from international sport, reviewing all its competitions, from men’s, women’s and youth club events to selection football.
“No Russian clubs will participate in the 2022-2023 UEFA club competition season” whose qualifying rounds start in July, namely the Champions League, the Europa League or the Europa League Conference, wrote UEFA.
This measure reinforces the sidelining of Russian football, already excluded at the end of February by the International Football Federation (FIFA) from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (November 21-December 18), for which the Russian men’s team, quarter of finalist of the 2018 World Cup, organized in Russia, could still qualify.
The Russian Football Federation withdrew its appeal on March 30 against FIFA’s decision to ban its selection from international competitions. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had, a few days earlier, refused to suspend FIFA’s sanctions, but this did not prejudge the future judgment of the sports justice on the merits of the dispute.
The Russian Federation, on the other hand, maintained its procedure against UEFA, which banned its clubs and selections from European competitions this season, but “no procedural timetable has been established at this time”had warned the CAS at the beginning of April.
In the men’s League of Nations, Russia will not participate in the group stage which begins in June and will automatically finish last in its League B group made up of Iceland, Israel, and Albania, a place synonymous with demotion in League C. Finally, the Russian candidacy for the organization of the Euro football in 2028 and 2032, was judged “inadmissible” by UEFA.
