RUSSIA has continued to pay heavy prices for its invasion of Ukraine as the country has now been sanctioned by both FIFA and UEFA.
Severe sanctions from across the world have hit Russia since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine on Thursday, where fighting has killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more.
The latest punishment came from the global and European football governing bodies on Monday as they announced that teams from Russia can no longer be involved in any competition.
“Following the initial decisions adopted by the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, which envisaged the adoption of additional measures, FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice,” the two bodies said in a joint statement.
“These decisions were adopted today by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, respectively the highest decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”
With the suspension, Russia will not be able to play in the Qatar 2022 World Cup playoffs in which they were due to face Poland. The Poles had made it clear that they had no intention of playing against Russia, even before the suspension.
A major Nigerian casualty of the suspension is former Super Eagles forward Victor Moses, who plays for Spartak Moscow.
The Russian side qualified for the round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League and had been drawn to face Germany’s RB Leipzig. The first leg was fixed for Thursday next week, but the tie will no longer be played.
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