Russia Banned from FIFA and UEFA
March 4, 2022
FIFA and UEFA have announced that Russia international Men’s and Women’s soccer team will be banned from all FIFA competitions and banned from the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Russian Club teams are banned from FIFA competitions (Club World Cup) as well as UEFA competitions (UEFA Champions league, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Conference League). These consequences mean that Russia will not be able to take in the qualifying matches for the World Cup, meaning that Russia is automatically out for the World Cup and wont be able to play in the biggest sports tournament in the world.
Russian club Spartake Moscow, who will be playing the round of 16 against RB Leipzig will be automatically disqualified from the competition, Advancing Leipzig to the Quarter-Finals. Russia’s Women’s team could also be disqualified from the Euros in England, it’s still in question as there is still time till the tournament begins in July, but if Russia continues the invasion of Ukraine up to July, the women’s team will be out of the tournament, giving their spot away to another country.
UEFA have also made the decision to terminate their partnership with Russian State owned energy company Gazprom, in which they had a new deal that would have the sponsorship go all the way into the Champions League up until 2024. The 2021/2022 Champions League final was also moved from the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg to Paris’ Stade de France.
