FIFA AND UEFA SUSPEND RUSSIAN CLUBS AND TEAMS FROM ALL COMPETITIONS

Mon 28 January 2022:

FIFA and UEFA have suspended Russia’s national and club teams from all competitions until further notice due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, the bodies said in a joint statement on Monday.

“Football is 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,” the statement read.

“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,” a joint statement published on UEFA’s website said.

That means Russia is expelled from this year’s World Cup. The men’s team had been due to play in qualifying play-offs in March for the World Cup in Qatar later this year, while its women’s side had qualified for the European Championship in England, to be held in July.

The news comes a day after FIFA announced that in light of the Russian invasion, no international football matches would be played in the country in the forseeable future. On Sunday, though, FIFA had said that Russia would still be allowed to continue with their World Cup qualifying campaign.

On Monday, the US Soccer Federation became the latest national FA to announce that none of its teams would take to the pitch against Russia under the current circumstances.

“The US Soccer Federation stands united with the people of Ukraine and is unequivocal in our denunciation of the heinous and inhumane invasion by Russia,” US Soccer said in a statement.