By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – Clearly exasperated that months of talks failed to achieve the hoped-for breakthrough, UEFA have taken the ultimate step of banning clubs in the annexed Crimea region of Ukraine from playing in any Russian-organised football competitions.
While the decision will be welcomed by the international community opposed to Russia’s takeover of the disputed peninsula, whether the move can be enforced is questionable.
In theory UEFA only has control over its own competitions as distinct from national leagues. But its statutes, like those of FIFA, bar clubs from switching countries without mutual agreement and it remains to be seen how Russia responds to being prohibited from including Crimea.
The Russians insists that three clubs from the contested region – TSK Simferopol, SKChF Sevastopol and Zhemchuzhina Yalta – are all new entities and nothing to do with the old teams that played in the Ukrainian league. They say two Crimea teams who used to play in the Ukraine first division have been disbanded.
Eight months ago, the three ‘new’ clubs were all admitted to Russia’s league and national cup and currently play in the Russian third division. Ukraine says Russia has no right to include any Crimean clubs since the peninsula is regarded as an occupied territory.
In a strongly-worded rebuke, UEFA said the Russian Football Union “may not organise any football competition in Crimea, without the consent of UEFA and the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU),” adding the ban would take effect on January 1.
UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino told reporters, following an executive committee meeting, that UEFA did not want get involved in politics and had therefore designated Crimea as a separate entity for the time being that would receive direct development funding with the emphasis on youth football and infrastructure.
“Having discussed this with Ukraine and Russia, and Ukrainian and Russian football authorities, over the last few weeks and months, the executive committee came to the conclusion that for the time being the decision has to be to consider Crimea as a special zone for football purposes,” he said.
Asked what would happen if Russia disobeyed the ban on including Crimean clubs, Infantino said a disciplinary case could theoretically be opened. That would constitute a huge embarrassment for the 2018 World Cup hosts who are already under severe scrutiny not only on the political front but also for failing to tackle racism in football as well being caught up in the World Cup bid process investigation.
“I’m not going to discuss ‘what if and what if not,” said Infantino, “but we have procedures and rules that have been clear for 60 years. It has not been an easy decision.”
UEFA vice-president Grigoriy Surkis, honorary president of the Ukrainian Football Federation (FFU) who didn’t participate when the item came up in the exco meeting for reasons of protocol, said in a television interview later that “the verdict shows that UEFA really cares about the development of football across the entire European continent.”
Russia’s Football Union (RFU) quickly confirmed it would comply with the ruling. “We cannot ignore UEFA and FIFA decisions,” RFU deputy chief Nikita Simonyan was quoted as saying by R-Sport news agency.
But that might end up being far from reality. The president of SKChF Sevastopol, Alexander Krasilnikov, immediately denounced UEFA’s decision as “against football.”
“This UEFA ruling is most of all directed against football and the fans,” Krasilnikov told the R-Sport agency.
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