Exclude Russia as an applicant? That’s what Uefa says

Despite the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia wants to apply for a European soccer championship. How does Uefa deal with it? t-online asked the European Football Association.

This news on Wednesday surprised: Russia wants to host the European Football Championship in 2028 or 2032 (read more about the topic here) – despite its isolation because of the aggressive war against Ukraine. Among other things, Russian teams have been suspended from their sports federations and the national football team has been banned from qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Uefa has now confirmed receipt of the Russian application. However, t-online asked the European Football Association again, wanting to know how to deal with the application in times of war and whether Russia can even take part in the normal allocation process.

Will the application be rejected?

The clear answer: Uefa reserves the right to exclude Russia from the award process. At the end of February, both Uefa and Fifa banned all Russian club and national teams from all competitions in response to the acts of war. “A suspension of the Russian Football Association was not pronounced at the time,” said Uefa on t-online request.

Nevertheless, the European Football Association reserves the right to take further measures “to reassess the legal and factual situation and, if necessary, to make further decisions.” The Uefa Executive Committee has scheduled two meetings, on April 7th and May 10th, where further action will be discussed.

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