Wednesday, June 9th 2021
Russia turns on UEFA
Dispute over Ukraine’s patriot jersey escalates
Ukraine competes in the European Football Championship in shirts that show the contours of the country. Including the Crimea annexed by Russia and the controlled regions. That upsets Moscow badly. The Russian association alarms UEFA, a politician is getting really cynical.
Russia is taking the next step in the dispute over the “political” jersey of the Ukrainian national team. The Russian Football Association sent a letter of complaint to the European Football Union (UEFA) about Ukraine’s European Championship jersey, which shows the outline of the Moscow-annexed Crimea and is decorated with popular patriotic chants.
The association’s letter stated three days before the start of the European Championship (June 11 to July 11): “We are drawing attention to the use of political motifs on the shirt of the Ukrainian national team, which violates the basic principles of the UEFA Equipment Regulations. “
Ukraine’s jerseys show the outline of their country, including the Russian-annexed Crimea and the separatist-controlled regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. In addition, the words “Glory for Ukraine” and “Glory for the heroes” can be read, which are associated with the decades-long struggle for independence in Ukraine.
“Knows how to shock”
UEFA announced that the shirt complies with the rules and has therefore been approved. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi welcomed the design on Tuesday. The shirt that Zelenskyj posed on Instagram was “in fact different from everyone else. It knows how to shock. It has several important symbols that unite Ukrainians.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Sakharova pointed out that Ukraine “has linked Ukrainian territory with Russian Crimea”. Sports politician Dmitri Swishchev described the jersey on the Russian TV channel RT as “completely inappropriate” and added: “Then our players should go to the square in T-shirts on which the outlines of the Russian Empire, which includes Poland, Ukraine and Finland, are shown . “
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