Russia accuses FIFA and UEFA of ‘discrimination’ for the exclusion of its clubs and soccer teams

The Russian Football Federation denounced this monday one “discriminatory” measure after the exclusion of his national team from the 2022 World Cup in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement, the Russian Federation was “in total disagreement with the decision of FIFA and UEFA to suspend the Russian teams” and estimates that that measure “will have a discriminatory effect evident on a large number of athletes, coaches, club or national team employees, and, more importantly, on millions of Russian and foreign fans.”

The Russian Federation also stated that reserves the right to challenge this decision of FIFA and UEFA in accordance with international sports law”, without giving further details.

FIFA and UEFA announced this Monday in a joint statement that Russia, host of the 2018 World Cup, was excluded from the World Cup, whose next edition will take place in Qatar in November and December of this year.

Valeri Karpin, Russia coachalso expressed his feelings about FIFA’s decision to exclude his team from the World Cup playoffs.

“Words cannot describe how disappointed that we are after FIFA made its decisions. It was our hope that the game (against Poland) would define the winner of the play-offsI feel sorry for my boys, they were dreaming of playing in the World Cup. Now their hope is gone,” the strategist said.

The Russian men’s team is not the only one affected, as the women’s team will not be able to play the European Championship in England, in July, and Moscow Spartaklast Russian club with options in European competitions this season, was excluded from the Europa League. (D)