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FIFA has the necessary legal resources protected by its statutes to, if it deems it appropriate, severely punish Russia and even exclude its Federation from the Qatar World Cup (will play the playoff against Poland next March) in retaliation for the recent invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. “Although the FIFA rules do not explicitly cite a war as a reason for sanctioning one of its federations, they do include provisions in which the outbreak of a war could be interpreted,” he explains. Tony Rockdirector of Sports Law Institute. Those exceptions that Toni Roca is talking about are included, for example, in article 4 of the FIFA Statutes, in which the organization states that “discrimination against any country, individual, or group of people for reasons of race, skin color (…), and will be punishable with suspension or expulsion», says the text that, in its article 4.2, insists that «FIFA declares itself neutral in matters of politics and religion», although «exceptions are contemplated in cases in which they affect FIFA’s statutory objectives».
“Making a broad interpretation of the precept, a war could be interpreted as a attempt against the statutory objectives of FIFA”, insists Toni Roca. The director of the Sports Law Institute also sees legal arguments in articles 16 and 17 so that, eventually, FIFA could punish harshly the Russian Federation for its attack on Ukraine. “The regulation says that the Congress may temporarily suspend and even expel a federation if it seriously violates the Statutes, regulations or decisions of FIFA or fails to comply with its obligations. Taking into account what was stated above in article 4, there is room for interpretation to justify a penalty as important as leaving Russia without a World Cup, ”adds Roca.
The most recent and almost unique example of a similar conflict with sanctions applied against the football federation of a country was experienced with Yugoslavia in 1992, when it was excluded from playing the European Championship that year was played in Sweden due to the Balkan War. Denmark, his substitute a few days before the tournament began, was finally the champion. “That case has many nuances with respect to the current one”, adds Toni Roca and had in the participation of the UN a differential factor to leave Yugoslavia (already then only made up of Serbia and Montenegro) without presence in the European Championship. FIFA, then led by Blatter, was not very keen on punishing Yugoslavia. Own Blatter He declared before the punishment that “soccer should not be mixed with politics because they are totally different issues.” Ultimately, FIFA had no choice but to apply the veto after the United Nations Security Council agreed on a sports lock against Yugoslavia. “That also affected the Barcelona Olympics. Yugoslav athletes had to compete under the banner of Independent Participants,” adds the lawyer.
“Now the scenario is different. First, because Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and, therefore, it is one of the States with veto power. I can’t imagine Russia giving the green light to a punishment of this order against itself,” Roca analyzes. “What’s more, the weight of russia on the international geopolitical stage it is greater than what Yugoslavia had then. It was easier to punish Yugoslavia in 1992 than to sanction Russia now in 2022”, concludes the lawyer.
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