The World’s Football Governing Body, FIFA, has announced that it will be banning the Russian National Team from the FIFA World Cup slated to take place at the end of this year.
This move seeks to further isolate Russia from the norms of the world because of its ongoing invasion in Ukraine.
Other measures to isolate Russia in other aspects of life have already taken place, in aspects such as banking to even shopping for groceries.
Football clubs in Russia also affected
On Monday, 28 Feb, FIFA together with UEFA (Europe’s Football Governing Body) released a joint statement saying that all Russian National Teams and Football Clubs will be barred from all competitions until ‘further notice’.
This would mean that the Russian National Football Team will not be able to take part in the FIFA World Cup playoffs slated for March 2022 and will mean that they will not be able to qualify for the tournament at the end of the year.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was the first to recommend that sports fedarations and event organisers ban Russian teams from participating in competitions, and FIFA picked up on this and announced their decision a few hours after the initial announcement by the IOC.
Belarus also banned from participation
Teams from Belarus will also be banned from participating in all sports events as it has voiced its support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The ban of Russian and Belarus Teams by FIFA and UEFA would apply not only to the men’s team but also to the women’s team.
Initial FIFA measures slammed
Initial measures by FIFA to move Russian home games to neutral venues and not allow the singing of the Russian anthem and Russian Flag in the venues had been slammed.
Russia was also supposed to change its team name to ‘Football Union of Russia’.
FIFA, in changing its decision to fully ban Russia said:
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”
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