In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IOC made a drastic recommendation to all world federations and organizers of sporting events. According to the will of the IOC under the leadership of Thomas Bach, Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials should no longer be allowed to take part in international competitions. FIFA and UEFA have now followed suit, sealing the Russian team’s exit from the World Cup qualifiers for Qatar 2022. In addition, RB Leipzig is in the quarter-finals of the Europa League because Spartak Moscow would have been the round of 16 opponent.
In addition, UEFA announced that cooperation with Gazprom will be terminated with immediate effect. The Russian oil company has been paying 40 million euros a year to UEFA since 2012. These decisions were preceded by numerous boycott threats from national associations. A few hours before the FIFA and UEFA decision, the football associations of Denmark, Norway and Switzerland had announced that they no longer wanted to play against Russia for the time being.
“Football is united here and in full solidarity with all affected people in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and quickly so that football can again be a factor for unity and peace between people,” said the joint statement by FIFA and UEFA.
ÖFB welcomes measures
The Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) gave its approval. One welcomes the sanctions and fully supports them, it said in a broadcast on Monday evening. “The ÖFB has sought a joint approach with UEFA and FIFA, as we believe this is the most sustainable and sensible. A shared voice is the loudest and has the greatest signaling effect.”
“In this way, the position of world football is represented uniformly. Football stands together in these difficult times and shows solidarity with the Ukrainian population. Russia’s war against Ukraine violates everything that the values of sport and humanity stand for,” said ÖFB President Gerhard Milletich.
Earlier, Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic announced that they would not play Russia in the World Cup qualifying play-offs. Poland were drawn as opponents of Russia in the play-off semifinals and should have played in Moscow at the end of March. Poland now have home advantage against the winner of the match Sweden – Czech Republic as the winner without a fight.
Russia criticizes measures
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) had sharply criticized the demand for an exclusion. “Today’s decision by our colleagues from the International Olympic Committee, in our opinion, goes against both the rules of the IOC and especially the Charter, as well as the spirit of the Olympic movement, which should unite and not divide, especially when it comes to the athletes and the equality of the participants in the Olympic movement,” said ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
A few days before the start of the Paralympics in Beijing, Russia is also facing complete exclusion there. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) actually wanted to make a decision at a meeting on Wednesday, two days before the start of the major event in the Chinese capital. According to the IOC recommendation, the verdict should be clear.
Decision “with a heavy heart”
The pressure on the international associations had increased with each passing day that Russia’s violent acts of war in its neighboring country continued. Now the IOC acted, which also revoked the Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and other top Russian politicians the Olympic medals in gold that had been awarded to them in the past.
The executive of the IOC made its decisions “with a heavy heart”, it said in a statement. Although the Olympic movement wants to be above all political conflicts, the war in Ukraine now puts them in a dilemma.
Many Ukrainian athletes can no longer participate in sports competitions because of the attack on their country, while Russians and Belarusians can continue to do so. Therefore, the decision was made to request the exclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus in order to protect the integrity and security of the competitions. This means that the Paralympics, which begin on Friday, will probably take place without Russia.
Open letter from Ukrainian athletes
There was also pressure from the athletes. In an open letter from Ukrainian and international athletes and associations, IOC President Bach and IPC boss Andrew Parson were asked to suspend the Russian and Belarusian Olympic and Paralympic Committees.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, backed by Belarus, is a clear violation of the Charter of the Olympic and Paralympic Games – a violation that must be met with severe sanctions,” the letter said. Interestingly, the Russian fencing Olympic champion Sofia Velikaja was also listed among the supporters of the letter. She is also the chairwoman of the Russian Athletes’ Commission.
Hard reaction with delay
After the outbreak of the war, the IOC was initially unable to bring itself to take any tough measures. The sports associations were only instructed to postpone or cancel events in Russia and Belarus. Neither flags nor anthems of the two countries should be shown and played. A recommendation that FIFA, which had been close to the Russian President for years, also adopted on Sunday. Just one day later, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Co. had to make improvements.
Not only football has to deal with tough sanctions. Finland, as the host of the Ice Hockey World Championship, no longer wants the two teams Russia and Belarus in its list of participants and should soon be heard by the world association IIHF. In contrast to football, Russia is one of the closest favorites. At the Winter Games, “Sbornaja” narrowly lost to Finland in the final.
Russian sponsors offside
But not only the Russian athletes will no longer be seen on the world sports stage, the logos of the Russian companies are also disappearing more and more. Before the UEFA, the German Bundesliga side Schalke 04 had already ended the cooperation with financier Gazprom on Monday and thus accepted a hard financial cut.
Since 2007, the Russian state-owned company has been the most important financier of the traditional club, which has liabilities of around 200 million euros and currently receives around nine million euros per season from Gazprom Germania, a German subsidiary of the Russian state energy company. The contract runs until 2025.
The World Chess Federation (Fide) is also ending its sponsorship deals with Russian government-related companies such as Gazprom and Rosatom. Roman Abramovich, club boss of Champions League winners Chelsea, wants to hand over control of the club to the administrators of the Chelsea charitable foundation.
The Russian billionaire may still have an important role to play. His spokesman said Abramovich was contacted by the Ukrainian side to mediate and help reach a peaceful solution between Ukraine and Russia.
