By Andrew Warshaw
February 28 – FIFA is refusing to kick Russia out of the World Cup despite finally imposing a string of sanctions in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Stopping short of expelling Russia from its showpiece tournament, FIFA has ordered the country to play without its flag and anthem and banned all competitions under its jurisdiction to be played on Russian soil, ruling the country’s home games must be played on neutral territory behind closed doors – and under the name of the Football Union of Russia.
The ruling by the FIFA Bureau, comprising the six regional football confederation presidents and chaired by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, was unanimous.
“First and foremost, FIFA would like to reiterate its condemnation of the use of force by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine,” FIFA said in a statement.
“Violence is never a solution and FIFA expresses its deepest solidarity to all people affected by what is happening in Ukraine.”
FIFA did hint it might ultimately throw Russia out, adding there could be “additional measures or sanctions, including a potential exclusion from competitions …should the situation not be improving rapidly.”
But it still declined, at this stage, to go as far as expelling Russia, which hosted the 2018 World Cup, despite growing pressure to do so from a raft of other national associations.
There is precedent for countries being thrown out of major tournaments because of military conflicts. In 1992, Yugoslavia were kicked out of the European Championship after war broke out in the Balkans.
Poland, due to play Russia in a World Cup playoff semi-final on March 24, said FIFA’s latest response to the Ukraine crisis did not go nearly far enough.
“Today’s FIFA decision is totally unacceptable,” Polish football federation president Cezary Kulesza tweeted angrily. “We are not interested in participating in this game of appearances. Our stance remains intact: Polish National Team will NOT PLAY with Russia, no matter what the name of the team is.”
FIFA said it would try to find a solution to the upcoming World Cup qualifiers involving Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic, all in Russia’s Path B playoff group yet all refusing to play Russia under any circumstances.
Russia are due to meet face Poland on March 24 before, if they win, hosting either the Czech Republic or Sweden five days later for a place in the finals in Qatar.
“(FIFA) has already engaged in dialogue with all of these football associations. FIFA will remain in close contact to seek to find appropriate and acceptable solutions together,” FIFA said.
But Swedish FA president Karl-Erik Nilsson, UEFA’s senior vice president, was also unhappy with FIFA’s decision. “We had expected a sharper stance from FIFA,” he was quoted as saying.
“The illegal and deeply unjust invasion of Ukraine currently makes all football fixtures with Russia impossible. We therefore urge FIFA to decide that the playoff matches in March in which Russia participates will be cancelled.”
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