UEFA separates from Gazprom
FIFA and UEFA suspend Russia
02/28/2022, 6:40 p.m
Russia is no longer part of the international football community. In a joint statement, FIFA and UEFA have suspended the Russian football association RFU from all competitions, including the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. UEFA is also parting ways with its major sponsor Gazprom.
World football association FIFA and the European Football Union (UEFA) are banning Russian teams from their competitions until further notice. This means that the World Cup will take place without Russia this winter. Both associations announced this decision almost simultaneously on Monday under the impression of the Russian war against Ukraine. Russia should have faced Poland in the World Cup play-offs on March 24. However, the Polish association had already ruled out playing this game.
“Following the initial decisions of the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, which provided for additional measures, FIFA and UEFA jointly decided today that all Russian teams will be banned from participating in FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice. This applies both for national teams and club teams,” said both FIFA and UEFA in a statement, expressing football’s full solidarity with the “affected people in Ukraine”. The associations avoided the word “war” in the brief statement.
Football World Cup without Russia
The decisions were the logical consequence after the International Olympic Committee had previously recommended all world federations and organizers of sporting events not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials to take part in international competitions. The decision of the two football associations also sealed the elimination of the Russian team in the World Cup elimination for Qatar.
RB Leipzig is directly affected by the decision. The Bundesliga club’s games against Spartak Moscow in the round of 16 of the Europa League have been canceled. Spartak were the only remaining Russian team in a European Cup competition. The decision will also have an impact on the women’s European Championship in England in July. Russia would have been group opponents there with the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. The latter had previously announced a boycott of Russian games along with numerous other associations.
UEFA also parted ways with major sponsor Gazprom. The European Football Union canceled all contracts with the Russian state-owned company, which was the sponsor of the Champions League and the 2024 European Football Championship in Germany, with immediate effect. For this, UEFA received between 40 and 48 million euros annually.