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FIFA Banning Russia from World Cup Until Further Notice

2022-03-01 , 9:04 am

Russia and Belarus’ National Team and Clubs Affected

FIFA, the international football governing body of association football, and UEFA, the European governing body, made the announcement on 28 February.

All Russian national teams and clubs will be banned from all competitions, until further notice. Belarus is also being banned, as it is supporting Russia in the war.

This means that both countries will likely be unable to participate in the qualifying playoffs for the World Cup in March. They’ll also have no chances of making it for the tournament, scheduled to take place in November and December 2022.

This came after the International Olympic Committee’s recommendation that sports federations and organisers should not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in competitions.

FIFA Initially Slammed For Half-Measures

Before this ban, FIFA responded to the war by deciding that Russia’s home games will be moved to neutral venues. The Russian team will play under the name “Football Union of Russia”, without the Russian flag or anthem.

Yes, this means that they were initially still going to let Russia participate. This decision was, understandably, slammed by football federations and fans.

In announcing the complete ban of Russia, FIFA said:

“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both [FIFA and UEFA] 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.”

Countries Refusing To Play Russia

But even if Russia wasn’t banned from competitions, they would likely not be able to play anyways.

This is because many countries have said that they will not play Russia.

Case in point: the Russian men’s national team was scheduled to play Poland in a World Cup qualifying playoff semi-final on 24 March.

However, the Polish national team announced that they refuse to play the match after the invasion of Ukraine.

The Czech Republic and Sweden, one of which was supposed to play the winner of the Poland-Russia match, also announced that they will not play Russia.

The American team, despite not having any matches scheduled with Russia, has also stepped up to declare that they’ll refuse to play Russia.

Further Isolates Russia From The World

You may be thinking, “This is just sports what? So what if they can’t participate?”

But this isn’t just sports. It’s part of a larger effort to isolate Russia from, the world, and place pressure on Russian leadership.

Measures like these means that international actions aren’t just affecting the elites, but even the ordinary Russians who can’t even participate in sports anymore. It’ll also strengthen the message that this war is deeply unpopular, hopefully placing more domestic pressure on Putin.