Andrei Pawelko chose an effective backdrop for his performance. Wearing a bulletproof vest, the President of the Ukrainian Football Union stood in a football stadium in Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv, that had been destroyed by Russian attacks. “I don’t have the moral right to leave Ukraine”he justified his absence at the beginning of his speech. “We were bombed, even today in the region, bombs fell here.”
The chosen image was effective, Pavelko’s further words fell victim to a bad connection, he could not finish his speech. All other associations of Uefa had the chance to come.
Russia’s Secretary General: “No comment”
In contrast to Pavelko, a representative of Russia was in the room. “No comment”, said Alexander Alaev from outside the plenum. The Secretary General of the Russian Federation took a seat alphabetically between the delegations from Romania and San Marino.
That was also possible because UEFA, like FIFA, only banned the Russian teams from all competitions, but not the association. This ultimately led to the awkward situation for UEFA that Russia could bid to host the 2028 and 2032 men’s European Championships until UEFA rejected the bid. With Russia’s ongoing attack on Ukraine, is UEFA considering tougher sanctions?