World Cup
War in Ukraine: FIFA wipes Russia off the football map
No tournament on its territory, reference to the name of the country’s football association, absence of flag and national anthem and possible ban of national teams from all events are FIFA decisions for Russia.
FIFA has been following the path set out by the International Olympic Committee for several hours when it announced that from now on, unknown until when, it will not recognize the Russian national teams as… Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine! Instead, they will henceforth compete as the Russian Football Union (RFU), similar to what happens to athletes who compete in the Olympic Games as members of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
Specifically, as stated in FIFA’s announcement:
- There will be no international tournament on Russian soil, the home games will take place at neutral venues without spectators.
- The teams representing Russia play in each case, which is called “Russian Football Union” and not “Russia”.
- The country’s flag and anthem are not used in “Russian Football Union” matches.
FIFA is in contact with the ILO and UEFA to decide on the next steps and the next sanctions, even the possibility of banning the Russians from any event if there is no immediate solution to the problem of the past few days, a immediate solution to the war in Ukraine has broken out in just 24 hours, leaving thousands dead and wounded.
“FIFA believes that the sport movement should be united in the decisions on this case and that sport should continue to speak about peace and hope“reports world football’s governing body, which says it is in open dialogue with Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden, Russia’s opponents in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, to find a solution for the matches between them.”
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.