Russian clubs and selections are still not welcome on football grounds. On Tuesday March 15, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the Russian Federation’s request to suspend the sanctions taken by the European Football Union (UEFA) at the end of February following the invasion of Ukraine.
Russian teams therefore remain excluded from European competitions until the Russian appeal is decided on the merits, while the sports court promises a decision ” by the end of the week “ on the possible suspension of the sanctions imposed by the International Football Federation (FIFA).
Concretely, Spartak Moscow remains banned from the Europa League – the club had already announced that it would focus on national deadlines – and the women’s selection excluded from the Euro this summer in England, except for a final decision in the meantime.
On February 28, in a joint statement, UEFA and FIFA decided to exclude Russian teams from international competitions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, applying the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee.
No World Cup in Qatar
The football authorities had kept the mystery on the legal motivations of this decision, pushing the Russian Football Federation to respond last week by seizing sports justice. UEFA had only mentioned, in a letter to its federations, its “serious concerns about the ability to ensure the safety of all”due to the hostility to Russians from certain federations and public opinion, and the closure of airspace.
For Russian football, the most resounding sanction remains its exclusion by FIFA from the race for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (from November 21 to December 18), depriving Sbornaïa in advance of the play-offs it was to play at the end of March.
The CAS will have to decide in the coming days to maintain or suspend this sanction for the duration of the procedure, while the opponents of the Russians are already refusing to face them. For the time being, FIFA has directly qualified Poland, who should have met Russia, for the play-off final against the winner of the confrontation between Sweden and the Czech Republic.
