When war disrupts sport. On Friday February 25, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) went on the offensive after the military assaults carried out by Russia in Ukraine on the night of February 23. Its executive committee held an extraordinary meeting to “take all necessary decisions”. The most anticipated concerned the location of the next Champions League final, scheduled for May 28 in Saint Petersburg.
The #UEFA Executive Committee, meeting this morning, took the decision to move the #UCL 2022 final from Saint-Pétersbo… https://t.co/2v4d9z8257
As expected, Vladimir Putin’s home city will not host the most important European match of the season at its Gazprom Arena. UEFA has found a fallback solution with the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis. The Seine-Saint-Denis enclosure had already organized the final of the 2006 edition between Arsenal and FC Barcelona and, six years earlier, that between Real Madrid and Valencia.
The Kremlin reacted immediately to this announcement, judging ” shame “ that Russia be deprived of this test, ensuring that “St. Petersburg could have provided the ideal conditions for holding such a football festival.”
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No decision yet on Gazprom
France’s choice is not innocent. According to The Team, the president of the European body, Aleksander Ceferin, had been in discussion for forty-eight hours with Emmanuel Macron on this subject. The Slovenian would be grateful to the President of the Republic for having been the first European head of state to oppose the Super League project, dissident of the Champions League, carried out in 2021 by twelve major European clubs.
UEFA, one of the major sponsors of which is the giant Gazprom, has not decided anything on the agreement with the Russian energy group, close to the Kremlin. Major sponsor of UEFA since 2012 (it brings in almost 40 million euros per year, according to SportBusiness Sponsorship estimates), Gazprom renewed its partnership with the Champions League in May 2021, even extending it to the next two continental competitions, the League of Nations and the European Championship.
The UEFA-Gazprom ties go beyond ‘simple’ marketing contracts. Alexander Dioukov, the boss of the oil branch of the Russian energy giant, who is also the president of the Russian Football Federation, is a member of the executive committee of UEFA.
The German club Schalke 04 (second division), also linked to Gazprom, decided on Thursday to remove the name of its main sponsor from its shirts.
If no more Russian or Ukrainian club is engaged in the Champions League, Spartak Moscow is still qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa League. UEFA has chosen to have the matches initially planned in Russia or Ukraine played on neutral ground, where the local championship is currently suspended.
This situation has become almost familiar for Shakhtar Donetsk. Located near the Donbass region – where the war began in 2014 – the country’s major club is forced to play its scheduled home matches on the lawn of Kiev, further west.
Goal celebrated by wearing a “No war in Ukraine” t-shirt
The events of the last two days have not left players in the game insensitive. Some Ukrainian players did not wait for the first assaults by the Russian army in Kiev on the night of February 23 to 24 to be moved by the situation.
During the Champions League match between Benfica Lisbon and Ajax Amsterdam on the evening of February 23, Benfica striker Roman Yaremchuk celebrated his goal by wearing a T-shirt with the Ukrainian crest. “I wanted to support my country. I have thought a lot about this and I am afraid of this situation”he explained at the microphone of CNN Portugal.
Scorer Thursday, February 24 in the Europa League against Olympiakos, the Ukrainian midfielder of Atalanta Bergamo Ruslan Malinovskiy also displayed a message under his shirt (“No war in Ukraine”).
Less pacifist in his Instagram story, since deleted, Manchester City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin, to whom he wished “the most painful death. »
On Thursday, it was Dynamo Moscow’s Russian striker Fedor Smolov who expressed his opposition to the invasion of Ukraine on Instagram: a short message, “No to war”accompanied by a black background and a Ukrainian flag and a broken heart.
Russia excluded from the World Cup?
With Ukraine, Zinchenko must play the play-offs for the qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar on March 24 and 28. Russia is also engaged in these dams. If the two countries cannot face each other, the question will arise for FIFA of the fate of the Russian selection, which must receive Poland, then, in the event of victory, the winner of the match between Sweden and the Czech Republic. .
Thursday, the federations of the three selections concerned, warned that they did not wish to go to Russia. A Yugoslav scenario can also be envisaged. In 1992, the country was excluded from the Euro ten days before the start of the tournament, replaced at short notice by the eventual winner, Denmark.
This decision followed the resolution 757 of the Security Council of the United Nations and the embargo decided against the country because of the bombardments of the Serbian army on Sarajevo. At present, FIFA has not yet taken the slightest measure, contenting itself on Thursday with saying “preoccupied” of the situation “tragic and disturbing”according to its president, Gianni Infantino.
It also remains to be seen whether the Ukrainian team will be able to travel to Scotland on March 24, with some players currently blocked by the Russian invasion. But the country has many other concerns than a possible second participation in a World Cup after the quarter-final of 2006.
