March 3 – Belarus and its club sides have been banned from playing matches at home by UEFA. Instead they will have to find neutral venues to play behind closed doors.
The Belarusian government has supported Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, allowing Russian troops to enter Ukraine via its border. The Ukrainians have claimed that Belarusian troops had entered their territory but those claims have not been verified.
Russia, which is laying siege to the country, was banned from all international competition in a joint announcement by UEFA and FIFA on Tuesday. This decision removed Russia from the play-off qualifying rounds of Qatar 2022 and Spartak Moscow from the Europa League.
If Belarus is found to have troops in Ukraine then UEFA will likely revisit their decision with the outcome almost certainly being a ban on international participation of teams from the country.
No club sides from Belarus are currently left in European competition but the national team is scheduled to play a friendly against Bahrain in the March international window. It will also start its Nations League campaign in June.
In a statement UEFA said: “The UEFA Executive Committee met today and decided that all Belarusian clubs and national teams competing in UEFA competitions will be required to play their home matches at neutral venues with immediate effect.
“Furthermore, no spectators shall attend matches in which the teams from Belarus feature as host.”
UEFA left itself room to revisit the decision, saying: “”The UEFA Executive Committee will convene further extraordinary meetings, on a regular ongoing basis where required, to reassess the legal and factual situation as it evolves and adopt further decisions as necessary.”
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