The consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have crossed over even more into global football’s top levels. FIFA and UEFA on Monday banned all Russian teams from their competitions until further notice. That means that Russia will not play its World Cup qualifying playoff against Poland next month and that Spartak Moscow will not face RB Leipzig in the Europa League next week.
The statement was expected after a meeting Monday afternoon, but it is not clear what would happen if Russia were to appeal against the verdict. In the recent past clubs that have appealed against sanctions have been allowed to continue playing until their appeals were heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, although the situation is very different this time.
Most of those bans have been for breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations or irregularities in transfer dealing and presented nothing like the moral or practical concerns of Russian sides continuing in competitions. It was hard to see how Spartak Moscow could have traveled to Germany for next week’s Europa League tie against RB Leipzig, while Poland, which should have played Russia in a World Cup qualifier in late March, had said it would refuse to play.
