Russian teams were suspended today from all international football, including qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup, as Moscow was pushed toward pariah status in sports after its invasion of Ukraine.
World football body FIFA and European authority UEFA banned Russian national and clubs teams from their competitions "until further notice." Russia's men's national team had been scheduled to play in World Cup qualifying playoffs in just three weeks' time.
"Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine," FIFA and UEFA said in a joint statement.
The high-level punishment involving sports and politics — not seen for decades — came after the International Olympic Committee pushed dozens of sports governing bodies to exclude Russian athletes and officials from international events. The IOC said this was needed to "protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants."
Denying Russia a place on the international stage should deliver a financial and psychological blow to the country, along with tarnishing its image as an elite sports powerhouse.
FIFA's move excluded Russia from the World Cup ahead of the qualifying playoff on March 24. Poland already had refused to play its scheduled game against Russia. The Russian women's side currently sits second in their Uefa group for qualifying for the 2023 event in Australia and New Zealand.
UEFA also took the last remaining Russians in European club competitions this season, Spartak Moscow, out of the second-tier Europa League. Spartak's scheduled opponent on March 10 and 17, Leipzig of Germany, advances directly to the quarterfinals, UEFA said.
Russia now faces the kind of isolation suffered by Yugoslavian teams in 1992 after war broke out in the Balkans and by South African teams and athletes in the 1970s and 1980s during the apartheid era of racial segregation and discrimination.
Decisions by FIFA and UEFA can typically be challenged on appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
It was not immediately clear how the IOC's request to sports bodies will affect Russian hockey players in the NHL and tennis players, including top-ranked Daniil Medvedev, in Grand Slam, ATP and WTA tournaments outside the authority of the International Tennis Federation.
World football body FIFA and European authority UEFA banned Russian national and clubs teams from their competitions "until further notice." Russia's men's national team had been scheduled to play in World Cup qualifying playoffs in just three weeks' time.
"Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine," FIFA and UEFA said in a joint statement.
The high-level punishment involving sports and politics — not seen for decades — came after the International Olympic Committee pushed dozens of sports governing bodies to exclude Russian athletes and officials from international events. The IOC said this was needed to "protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants."
Denying Russia a place on the international stage should deliver a financial and psychological blow to the country, along with tarnishing its image as an elite sports powerhouse.
FIFA's move excluded Russia from the World Cup ahead of the qualifying playoff on March 24. Poland already had refused to play its scheduled game against Russia. The Russian women's side currently sits second in their Uefa group for qualifying for the 2023 event in Australia and New Zealand.
UEFA also took the last remaining Russians in European club competitions this season, Spartak Moscow, out of the second-tier Europa League. Spartak's scheduled opponent on March 10 and 17, Leipzig of Germany, advances directly to the quarterfinals, UEFA said.
Russia now faces the kind of isolation suffered by Yugoslavian teams in 1992 after war broke out in the Balkans and by South African teams and athletes in the 1970s and 1980s during the apartheid era of racial segregation and discrimination.
Decisions by FIFA and UEFA can typically be challenged on appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
It was not immediately clear how the IOC's request to sports bodies will affect Russian hockey players in the NHL and tennis players, including top-ranked Daniil Medvedev, in Grand Slam, ATP and WTA tournaments outside the authority of the International Tennis Federation.
