Pressure from all European countries following the invasion of Ukraine has been crucial for FIFA and UEFA to reach the position of Poland, against which Russia was due to play the first leg of the second leg on March 24. at the Qatar World Cup at the end of the year. When the conflict broke out, the Poles soon took a stand and announced that they refused to play the game. The teams from Sweden and the Czech Republic were also involved, the other two national teams competing in the play-offs for the European place for the World Cup and which may have faced each other on the way to Russia. The Netherlands have already announced that they will not play matches against Russia or Belarus “until further notice”. In this way, the national team Orange joins other international football federations – the aforementioned Poland, as well as England, Albania, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Switzerland, France and Wales – which had also shown a reluctance to face these two countries.
The expulsion also affects the Russian women’s national team, which was due to play in the European Championship this summer, which will be held in England. The International Federation of Professional Footballers (Fifpro) was also positioned this Monday. In a statement, the group called on FIFA to immediately suspend the Russian Football Federation in solidarity with Ukraine. This is true of state teams, but UEFA has also ruled out the exclusion of all Russian football teams involved in European competitions. This measure will affect Moscow’s Spartak, who qualified for the round of 16 of the Europa League and had to face RB Leipzig.
The move has also had its consequences beyond the strictly sporting side: UEFA has ended its important multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with Russian oil giant Gazprom since 2012, which lasted until 2024. In fact, The Russian multinational is very present in the world of football and already saw how, last week, the German Schalke 04 also ended the sponsorship they had maintained for more than a decade. Aleksandr Diukov, chairman of Gazprom Neft’s board of directors, is also (since last year) a member of UEFA’s executive committee, as well as a former chairman of Zenit St Petersburg. Diukov is also a good friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Outside the sports field, Gazprom was already involved in heavy sanctions, precisely because of the conflict in Ukraine in 2014.
The Euroleague suspends Russian teams
Beyond football, the Euroleague also announced on Monday afternoon that CSKA Moscow, Unics Kazan and Zenit St Petersburg are officially suspended. The Krasnodar Lokomotiv Kuban, a team that plays in the Eurocup, is also affected. If the situation does not evolve favorably, all matches of the regular season against Russian teams will be canceled to reconfigure the classification.
The IOC withdraws the Olympic Order from Putin
The IOC board has also agreed to withdraw its highest decoration, the Olympic Order, from all members of the Russian government who hold it. This decision affects, among others, Vladimir Putin, his Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernychenko, who was in charge of the Winter Games in Sochi in 2014, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the President’s Executive Office, Dmitri Cossacks. The IOC also “urges international sports federations and sports event organizers around the world to do everything in their power to ensure that the participation of any athlete or sports leader from Russia or Belarus with the name of Russia or Belarus “. If it is not possible to exclude them, the IOC calls for “Russian or Belarusian citizens, whether as individuals or as teams, to be accepted only as athletes or neutral teams. No symbols should be displayed. , colors, flags or national anthems “.
