For the past seven months, Russian football has been in global isolation. Neither clubs nor national teams can compete in international tournaments. Moreover, the organization of friendly matches with teams from other countries has become a big headache for Russian football functionaries.

But even such a difficult situation did not make football fans give up hope for the participation of our teams in international competitions. Unfortunately, today there is more than one tournament in which we will not be.

UEFA’s decision is a real barbarism.

Months of widespread isolation

At the end of February, against the backdrop of the political situation in the world, UEFA imposed tough sanctions on all our teams and clubs.

— Following the initial decisions made by the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, which provided for the adoption of additional measures, today FIFA and UEFA jointly decided that all Russian teams, whether national teams or club teams, will be suspended from participation in all competitions, — stated in the official statement of UEFA.

As a result, the national team lost the chance to compete in the play-offs for a ticket to the World Cup in Qatar. Not lucky and our clubs. First, Spartak Moscow, which made its way into the spring part of the European Cup season, was left without the Europa League. Then the suspension extended to other teams, but already in the new season of European competition.

UEFA tried to get rid of everything Russian in European football. Russia lost the Champions League final, the organization of which was then frankly failed in France. Our applications for hosting the European Championships in 2028 and 2032 were also not accepted.

European football officials also got rid of sponsors from Russia. Gazprom was suddenly left without a sponsorship agreement with the Champions League. The company also lost its main place on the shirts of the Schalke team.

The Russian Football Union did not sit idly by. The lawyers of the organization tried to return our teams to the international arena. The RFU filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS), but the judges upheld all UEFA decisions.

“Russia will not take part in the draw”

In such difficult conditions, there was practically no chance that the Russian team would take part in the qualifying round for the European Championship in 2024. But as they say, hope dies last. The draw for this tournament is scheduled for October 9th. There was still a small chance that the officials would be able to agree.

But all hopes were gone after the publication of an official statement on the website of the RFU, which reported that the Russian team was not allowed to qualify for the European championship.

– The Russian team will not take part in the draw for the qualifying round of the European Championship 2024, which will be held on October 9 in Frankfurt. The reason is UEFA’s February decision to suspend the participation of Russian national teams and clubs in competitions under the auspices of the organization, by default acting “until further notice.” This decision was challenged by the RFU at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS), which dismissed the appeal in July, the organization said in a statement.

Thus, for the first time in the history of Russian football, our team will not play in the qualifying tournament for the European or World Championships. On the part of European officials, leaving our country without the opportunity to qualify for the main tournament of the continent is a real barbarism. But the RFU is in no hurry to give up after the egregious actions of UEFA. Now lawyers and officials are waiting for the full text of the court’s decision in order to develop a plan of further action to protect the interests of Russian football based on the results of its study. So there are still theoretical chances to see our guys at Euro 2024.