The Football Association of Bosnia-Herzegovina has postponed a planned test match against Russia – there had previously been criticism of the agreed game.
The association announced on Monday (October 31, 2022) that the board of the association had decided at a meeting to postpone the game. No reason was given. Association President Vico Zeljković said that the game “at a later time” will take place without specifying a time frame or conditions for the game to take place. The game was scheduled for November 19, 2022 in St. Petersburg.
Dzeko and Pjanic criticized the match’s agreement
In view of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, key players in Bosnia-Herzegovina’s national team had previously clearly criticized the game. “I am against this game, I am always and only for peace”said Inter Milan’s Edin Dzeko, who used to play for VfL Wolfsburg. “I have my point of view, which is clear and cannot be reconciled with a game like this while innocent people are dying.”
Bosnia’s Edin Dzeko criticized the planned game against Russia.
Miralem Pjanić, who played for Sharjah FC in the United Arab Emirates and was formerly at AS Roma, Juventus and FC Barcelona, said: “The decision is not good. I am speechless.” The Ukrainian FA called for the game to be canceled. “We are fighting for the future of the entire democratic, civilized world, which includes Bosnia and Herzegovina”, it said in an open letter. The mayor of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo also criticized the plans.
Bosnia’s association president Zeljković was formerly president of the association of the Republic of Srpska. Milorad Dodik, president of the republic and an uncle of the president of the association, has repeatedly hinted at plans for the republic to secede from Bosnia-Herzegovina and advocates closer ties with Russia.
FIFA and UEFA could not have prevented the game at the moment
FIFA and UEFA delayed Russian club and national teams in all competitions after the start of the Russian war of aggression. The Russian teams will therefore miss the men’s World Cup 2022 and the women’s World Cup 2023. The men’s European Championship 2024 is also in doubt for the Russian team, it was not drawn in the qualifying groups.
However, FIFA and UEFA cannot prevent friendlies, even if they wanted to. The sanctions simply state that Russian teams are suspended from both associations’ competitions, friendlies are not included. Russia played Kyrgyzstan on September 24th, and a game in Tajikistan is planned for November 17th.
Russia’s FA: “We’ll keep getting money from UEFA and FIFA”
The Russian association is also a full member of UEFA and FIFA. Gazprom manager Alexander Dyukov is still on the UEFA Executive Committee. Dyukov is also the president of the Russian FA and told the Russian state news agency TASS in early October that the Russian FA continues to cooperate with UEFA and FIFA on football development programs and receives money from both FIFA and UEFA.
Dyukov said that the dialogue with the associations would be maintained. At the same time, Russia is trying to get the suspension of its teams lifted before the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS.
Alexander Dyukov, head of Gazprom Neft and member of the UEFA executive board