FC Fehervar from Hungary is the opponent of 1. FC Köln in the play-offs for the group phase of the Conference League on Thursday (08/18/2022). It could possibly have been a club from Belarus and that’s why Cologne wrote a letter to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin at the end of July.
UEFA still does not comment on the letter
When asked again on Tuesday, UEFA said it was still not commenting on the process. According to information from Deutschlandfunk, the people of Cologne have not yet received an answer to their letter, even when asked.
And Belarus will no longer be a big issue for UEFA this season: FK Gomel, Dinamo Minsk and BATE Borisov would have been possible opponents of Cologne in the play-offs, and if they reached the group stage, the Belarusian champions Shakhtyor Soligorsk could have ended up in the draw – but all four teams have meanwhile been eliminated. Belarus are otherwise only represented in Europe with two teams in the qualifiers for the women’s Champions League and have no chance of success in the European qualifiers for the women’s World Cup in 2023.
Viola von Cramon: “The DFB has a duty, not 1. FC Köln”
“It’s commendable that 1. FC Köln are doing this,” says Viola von Cramon in an interview with Deutschlandfunk. The sports policy spokeswoman for the Greens in the European Parliament sees another institution as responsible. “It’s not a club job, it’s a national matter. The DFB has a duty – because of course Belarus has to be excluded.”
The German Football Association, which is a member association of UEFA and has a representative on the Executive Committee in Rainer Koch, has so far not commented on the Bundesliga club’s initiative. “If the DFB and other European member associations don’t put any pressure on, nothing will happen,” says von Cramon. “The voice of the DFB would be heard.”
Although Belarus is not officially involved in the attack, it offers its ally from Moscow its territory as a deployment area and base. Rocket fire from Belarusian territory has been reported several times in Ukraine.
Sport excluded athletes, but not officials
After the start of the Russian attack, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that the international federations exclude Russian and Belarusian teams. However, the world football association FIFA and UEFA only implemented this for Russia without further justification. Belarus can continue to play, the teams only have to play their official home games on neutral ground to the exclusion of fans. A request from Deutschlandfunk to UEFA for a reason for the procedure remained unanswered.
For von Cramon, excluding the teams would only be half a step anyway. “Associations from Russia and Belarus should be excluded,” says the MEP. “If we say that we are sanctioning Vladimir Putin’s helpers, then Alexander Lukashenko and his sports associations are part of it.”
35 states including Germany demanded the exclusion of the associations in vain
To this day, officials from both countries sit on various football and other sports committees. Alexander Dyukov is a member of the UEFA Executive Committee and is the managing director of Gazprom’s petroleum subsidiary Gazprom Neft. Sport excluded athletes – but not officials.
Cologne’s President: “Duty to use our stage”
A half-full glass remains for the people of Cologne. The own position was made clear, but there was hardly any support outside of Cologne. Fredi Bobic, Managing Director of Hertha BSC, said in “Sport Bild” when asked about the Cologne approach: “We should rather stay out of world politics and think about sport.”
Cologne’s President Werner Wolf disagreed. “We have a huge stage as professional football,” Wolf told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”. “And I see it as our duty to use this stage.” Players in football are part of the political process and have a responsibility. For his club, this also means “that we can comment on certain issues – and not only can we do that, we have to. If nobody says anything, nothing will ever happen”.