Russia suspended from international soccer four years after hosting World Cup
FIFA president says soccer should be ‘a vector for unity and peace amongst people’; Russian Football Union calls decision ‘discriminatory’
PARIS, France — Russia has been expelled from the World Cup after being suspended from all international competitions “until further notice,” FIFA and UEFA announced in a joint statement on Monday, while the European governing body of soccer also ended its partnership with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
The men’s team had been due to play in qualifying play-offs in March for the World Cup in Qatar later this year, while its women’s side had qualified for the European Championship in England, to be held in July.
The announcement came shortly after the International Olympic Committee urged sports bodies to exclude the country’s athletes and officials from international events.
The decision will also affect Russian clubs involved in European competitions.
“FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice,” read the joint statement from the governing bodies of world and European soccer.
The Russian Football Union criticized the decision on Monday evening, saying it discriminated against millions of Russians.
“It has an obvious discriminatory character and harms a huge number of athletes, coaches, employees of clubs and national teams, and most importantly, millions of Russian and foreign fans, whose interests international sports organizations must protect in the first place,” the Russian Football Union said in a statement.
The Russian men’s team were scheduled to play Poland in a World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final on March 24, and might have faced Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29 for a place at the finals in Qatar later this year.
But their three potential opponents insisted they would boycott the matches.
FIFA announced on Sunday that Russian teams would be allowed to continue playing under the name of the Football Union of Russia, playing home games on neutral territory and behind closed doors, and with the Russian flag and anthem banned.
But those measures were dismissed as “totally unacceptable” by Polish FA president Cezary Kulesza, who added that Poland would not play their World Cup play-off with Russia, “no matter what the name of the team is.”
FIFA changed its approach on Monday, kicking Russia out of the sport’s showpiece tournament.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” the statement added.
“Both presidents [Gianni Infantino and Aleksander Ceferin] hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”
The decisions come after a widespread outcry, with global players’ union FIFPro on Monday releasing a statement saying it “strongly disagreed” with the initial measures taken by FIFA.
FIFPro criticized FIFA for not imposing stronger sanctions right away and said that participation of Russian teams in international competitions was now “not a possibility.”
With other nations also coming out to say they would not play against Russia, FIFA and UEFA were left with little choice.
UEFA end Gazprom deal
FIFA had to act quickly before the upcoming World Cup play-offs and with the draw for the tournament due to be held in Doha on April 1.
Russia were supposed to play the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland in their group at the women’s Euro in England in July.
Meanwhile, Spartak Moscow were scheduled to play RB Leipzig of Germany in the last 16 of the Europa League.
They were the only remaining Russian team in European competition this season.
UEFA said it had ended its partnership with Gazprom, one of its main sponsors, “effective immediately.”
Gazprom has been a key sponsor of UEFA since 2012, and was believed to have been paying around 40 million euros ($45 million) a year in a deal due to run until 2024.
Russian soccer federation president Alexander Dyukov, boss of Gazprom Neft, the petrol branch of Gazprom, is a member of the UEFA’s executive committee.
German club Schalke 04 also announced Monday it had prematurely ended its shirt sponsorship deal with Gazprom.
UEFA last week stripped the Russian city of Saint Petersburg of this season’s Champions League final, moving the game on May 28 to Paris.
