The world's recent focus has been on the border conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has not ceased fire despite negotiations on Feb. 28. The impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the sports circle and the football circle is also obvious.
In the early morning of March 1, Beijing time, FIFA and UEFA officially announced that Russian national teams and club teams at all levels will be banned from participating in all FIFA and UEFA competitions. According to this, the Russian team has actually missed this year's World Cup.
The joint statement of the two major football governing bodies said:
Following the decision of the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee to take further measures, FIFA and UEFA jointly decided today that all Russian teams, whether national or club, should suspend their participation in FIFA and UEFA matches until further notice.
The decisions were adopted today by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, which are the highest decision-making bodies on these urgent matters.
In this way, the Russian team that has reached the World Cup European play-off will be deprived of the right to play and will lose the opportunity to participate in the World Cup.
In last year's World Cup European Play-off Draw, Russia was placed in Group B, with Poland in the semi-finals. After being banned in Russia, Poland will advance directly to the play-off finals, competing for a Ticket to the World Cup against the winners between the Czech Republic and Sweden.
In terms of club matches, Russian Super League club Sparta Moscow, which reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League, could not continue its European journey, and their opponents Red Bull Leipzig won without a fight and advanced to the quarter-finals.
The official statement of the Spartan club Moscow said: "UEFA and FIFA have decided to remove Sparta from the Europa League list, so the match against Leipzig will not be played, and the German club will automatically win a quarter-final place." ”
"Unfortunately, the efforts of all members of the team to compete in Europe have been erased for reasons that have nothing to do with sport, and sport should be committed to building bridges, not burning them, even in the most difficult times. The official decision has been made and we do not agree, but have to accept it. ”
In the europa league group stage this season, Sparta Moscow was in the same group as Napoli and Leicester City, with 6-3 wins and 10 points to beat the two top teams of the five major European leagues, becoming the only European team in the Russian Premier League. However, they are deprived of the possibility of moving forward for non-sporting reasons.
After FIFA and UEFA imposed a total ban on Russia, the Russian Football Federation issued a statement protesting and reserved the possibility of appeal.
"The Russian Football Federation firmly opposes the decision of FIFA and UEFA to ban all Russian teams from international competition indefinitely. We believe that this decision violates the laws of international competition and sportsmanship, is obviously discriminatory, and hurts countless players, coaches and staff of national teams and clubs. ”
"More importantly, it hurts millions of Russian and foreign fans whose interests are the first thing that international sports organizations must protect."
"The decision to ban the relevant agencies is dividing the world of sports, and the sports world has always adhered to the principles of equality, mutual respect and independence from politics. We reserve the right to appeal under international sports law. ”