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Can Russia be reinstated in European football and the race for the 2022 World Cup? The Russian Football Federation (FUR) has seized the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to have the banishment of its clubs and national teams from FIFA and UEFA competitions annulled.
By challenging its exclusion from international competitions in court, the FUR confronts world sport with its contradictions, between the open defense of human rights and the refusal to abdicate its political neutrality.
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Irreparable harm?
Before the CAS decides the dispute on the merits, the FUR asks it to suspend the execution of the sanctions, that is to say, concretely, to let his men’s selection face Poland at the end of March in the dam of the 2022 World Cup, and his women’s selection to play Euro 2022 this summer in England. the Spartak Moscowthe last Russian club engaged in the European Cup this season, was excluded from the Europa League before facing RB Leipzig in the round of 16.
Sbornaïa, quarter-finalist of the 2018 World Cup organized at home, could highlight the “ irreparable harm “That she would suffer, according to a lawyer interviewed by Agence France Presse. The next World Cup is due to be held in Qatar from November 21 to December 18. Except that Poland and many European federations refuse to face the Russians. Fifa also decided on Tuesday evening, without waiting for the provisional measures of the CAS and at the risk of being disavowed, to qualify Poland directly for the final of the play-offs.
« I don’t understand why athletes have to suffer now »
« Football here is totally united and in full support of all those affected in Ukraine. The two presidents (Gianni Infantino for Fifa and Aleksander Ceferin for UEFA, editor’s note) hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and quickly so that football can once again be a vehicle for unity and peace between peoples “Explained jointly Fifa and UEFA in a press release.
« I am against discrimination based on nationality. I’m not ashamed to be Russian. I am proud to be Russian. And I don’t understand why athletes have to suffer now “, wrote on Instagram the captain of the Russian football selection Artem Dzyuba regretting” the wickedness, filth and bile that is now being poured over all Russians and emphasizing that ” war is terrible ».
While the authorities have refrained from publicly justifying their sanctions, UEFA raised, in a letter to its federations, its ” serious concerns about the ability to ensure the safety of all “, because of the hostility to the Russians of certain federations and public opinion, and the closure of airspace.
The CAS opens two separate proceedings
For the time being, the CAS based in Lausanne in Switzerland will open two separate procedures, targeting respectively FIFA and UEFA by associating about fifteen national federations which openly refuse to face the Russians. The CAS should communicate “ in the next few days » more details on the timetable and terms of these appeals, as well as on their possible suspensive effects.
The CAS, already criticized by part of Western sport in recent years for its management of Russian doping, has an extremely sensitive file in its hands: a reintegration of Russian football would create new difficulties, for lack of opponents willing to meet them.
On the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Russians have been banned until further notice from international competitions in athletics, ice hockey, rugby, basketball, cycling, alpine skiing or climbing. Russia was also excluded from the Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing (March 4-13), by a decision taken the day before the opening ceremony.
