FIFA is in “advanced discussions” to suspend the Russian
national team from international competitions including the World Cup following
the invasion of Ukraine, a source with knowledge of the talks told AFP on
Monday.
The source said Russia would be expelled from the World Cup
“unless the situation improves”.
The Russian team are due to play Poland in a World Cup
qualifying play-off semi-final on March 24, and would go on to face Sweden or
the Czech Republic on March 29 for a place at the finals in Qatar later this
year.
FIFA announced on Sunday that Russian teams would be allowed to continue playing under the name of the Football Union of Russia, playing home games on neutral territory and behind closed doors, and with the Russian flag and anthem banned.
Those measures were dismissed as “totally unacceptable” by
Polish FA president Cezary Kulesza, who added that Poland would not play their
World Cup play-off with Russia, “no matter what the name of the team is.”
Sweden and the Czech Republic followed suit, with Swedish FA
chief Karl-Erik Nilsson saying he was “displeased” with FIFA’s decision.
The draw for the World Cup is due to be held in Doha on
April 1 with the tournament taking place in November and December.
The International Olympic Committee on Monday called on
sports organisers to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from
international events “in order to protect the integrity of global sports
competitions and for the safety of all the participants”.
UEFA, which last week stripped the Russian city of Saint
Petersburg of this season’s Champions League final and moved the game to Paris,
must now decide whether to exclude Russia from the women’s European
Championship.
Russia are due to play the Netherlands, Sweden and
Switzerland in their group at the 16-team tournament in England in July.
Spartak Moscow also face being kicked out of the Europa
League.
They are scheduled to play RB Leipzig of Germany in the last
16 next month.
AFP
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