FIFA and UEFA have jointly decided to ban Russia from world football with immediate effect.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday (24 February), UEFA and FIFA have both issued tough footballing sanctions against Russia in recent days, which included;
- Stripping St Petersburg of hosting rights to 2021-22 UEFA Champions League Final on 28 May, which has been switched to Paris, France.
- Banning Russian clubs and national teams from playing games at home with provision instead for their home matches to be held at a neutral venue without national anthem played or flag flown.
- Stripping Russia of any hosting rights to footballing competitions across both men and women’s football.
- Russia’s National Teams forced to play under a new name – Football Union of Russia (RFU).
Russia’s UEFA Qualifying Play-Off opponents for 2022 FIFA World Cup – Czech Republic, Poland and Sweden all refused to play Russia in the Play-Offs, which was backed up by other UEFA nations like England, Scotland and Wales who all refuse to play Russia at any level of football.
FIFA and UEFA consequently decided to adopt ‘additional measures,’ which means that all Russian clubs and National Teams are ‘suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions’ with immediate effect.
Both FIFA and UEFA also iterated that there is no expiry date for this ban which means that Spartak Moscow is thrown out of the UEFA Europa League, whilst Russia have been thrown out of Qualifying for 2022 FIFA World Cup.
RB Leipzig consequently have been handed a bye to the Quarter-Finals of the Europa League, having been set to face Spartak in the Round of 16.
It however is unclear whether Russia’s Women National Team will be banned from this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euros, given that there is just over four months until the tournament begins and Russia’s first group match isn’t until 9 July.
FIFA and UEFA also clarified that these decisions had been decided by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and Executive Committee of UEFA, whilst reiterating that both parties remain ‘fully united and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine.’
UEFA meanwhile have terminated their partnership with Gazprom across all competitions due to Gazprom being a Russian owned energy company.
UEFA has today decided to end its partnership with Gazprom across all competitions.
The decision is effective immediately and covers all existing agreements including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA national team competitions and UEFA EURO 2024.
— UEFA (@UEFA) February 28, 2022
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