PARIS: 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 European football’s governing body 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 also affects 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 football.
The Russian men’s team were scheduled to play Poland in a World Cup qualifying play-off semifinal 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 among people.”
The Russian Football Union denounced the suspension, saying the move was “discriminatory.”
“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,” it said in a statement.
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.
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.
“This is a powerful message from the international sporting community that we will not tolerate Putin’s abhorrent assaults on freedom and liberty. Well done FIFA and UEFA,” tweeted UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
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.
“Even though we are of the opinion that sport fundamentally unites, we understand and support this decision,” said Leipzig, who, UEFA told AFP, have received a bye into the quarter-finals.
FIFA, though, did not confirm if Poland would qualify directly for the final of their World Cup play-off path.
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 football 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.
Russia expelled from World Cup as FIFA and UEFA hand down bans
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Russia expelled from World Cup as FIFA and UEFA hand down bans
- The men’s team had been due to play in qualifying play-offs in March for the World Cup in Qatar later this year
Cambodia pulls out of SEA Games in Thailand over border conflict
- At least 11 soldiers and civilians have been killed on both sides, according to officials, as renewed hostilities derailed a US-brokered truce
- Cambodia had already pulled out of eight sports at the Thailand-hosted Games, but National Olympic Committee of Cambodia chief Vath Chamroeun wrote in a letter Wednesday to the Southeast Asian Games Federation that it would bring all of the country’s athl
BANGKOK: Cambodia withdrew on Wednesday from the Southeast Asian Games, an Olympic official said, as a border conflict with hosts Thailand escalated and forced a mass exodus of civilians from both sides of the disputed frontier.
At least 11 soldiers and civilians have been killed on both sides, according to officials, as renewed hostilities derailed a US-brokered truce.
Cambodia had already pulled out of eight sports at the Thailand-hosted Games, but National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) chief Vath Chamroeun wrote in a letter Wednesday to the Southeast Asian Games Federation that it would bring all of the country’s athletes home.
“Due to serious concerns and requests from the families of our athletes to have their relatives return home immediately, NOCC must withdraw all of our delegation and arrange for their prompt return to Cambodia for safety reasons,” he wrote.
The Games officially opened on Tuesday and run until Dec. 20 in Bangkok and the nearby coastal province of Chonburi, with thousands of athletes from southeast Asian countries competing in events ranging from football and fencing to skateboarding, sailing and combat sports.
But renewed fighting this week between Thailand and Cambodia over a long-standing border dispute has overshadowed the Games.
There was tightened security at Tuesday’s opening ceremony at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok attended by Thai royals and featuring Thai K-pop idol BamBam.
A small delegation from Cambodia took part in the athletes’ parade.
This week’s clashes are the deadliest since five days of fighting in July that killed dozens before a shaky truce was agreed, in large part owing to intervention by US President Donald Trump.
Both sides blame each other for sparking the renewed clashes, which on Tuesday expanded to five provinces of both Thailand and Cambodia, according to an AFP tally of official accounts.
More than 500,000 people have fled their homes to safety in Thailand and Cambodia since the conflict reignited, both governments said on Wednesday, surpassing the total number evacuated during similar clashes earlier this year.
The dispute centers on a century-old disagreement over borders mapped during France’s colonial rule in the region, with both sides claiming a smattering of boundary temples.
