Picture Credit: FIFA/UEFA
In a major decision on Monday, the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) and FIFA announced their joint decision on the future of Russian football. While FIFA took a U-turn on its decision to allow Russia to participate in the World Cup under certain conditions, UEFA banned Russian clubs from all European competitions. Both bodies issued a joint statement on Monday to confirm their stand.
"FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice," read the joint statement from the governing bodies of world and European football. Also, UEFA ended its partnership with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Earlier, FIFA had decided to allow the Russian team to take part in the World Cup only if they play under the name of the Football Union of Russia, playing home games on neutral territory and behind closed doors, and with the Russian flag and anthem banned. But with resistance coming from its opponents, the world football governing body decided to expel the country.
Had Russia participated, its men's team would have played Poland in a World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final on March 24 and might have faced Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29 for a place at the finals in Qatar later this year. Meanwhile, Russia's women's team had qualified for the European Championship in England, to be held in July.
It has an obvious discriminatory character: Russian Football Union
While the governing bodies announced their decisions to not allow either the national team or the clubs to take part in any sort of football competition, the Russian Football Union called the decision 'discriminatory'. The body issued a statement and explained the impact of the decision of several players, coaches, as well as fans.
"It has an obvious discriminatory character and harms a huge number of athletes, coaches, employees of clubs and national teams, and most importantly, millions of Russian and foreign fans, whose interests international sports organizations must protect in the first place," Russian Football Union said in a statement.