UEFA has suspended the previously decided return of youth teams from Russia. The contradiction from European football was too great.
“The agenda item was withdrawn because no technical solution could be found to enable Russian teams to play”said a statement from UEFA. According to the agenda, the UEFA Executive Committee was actually supposed to approve the readmission of Russian U17 teams at the meeting on Tuesday (October 10, 2023) in Nyon. One obstacle was that the qualifying groups for the women’s U17 had already been drawn. The men’s qualifying games are already underway.
German officials agreed, but twelve countries announced boycotts
On September 26th, the committee fundamentally supported the return of the youth teams. However, the issue divided UEFA. While all German representatives in the international committees voted for the return of the Russian youth teams, twelve of the 55 European national associations announced a boycott of possible games against Russia following the Executive Committee’s decision. England, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Romania, Ireland and Denmark as well as Ukraine do not want to play against Russia.
The decision to re-admit the Russian youth teams is still formally in place in UEFA, but it could not be implemented. Whether and when that will happen is questionable: With the boycott threats, it was hardly possible to hold functioning tournaments involving Russian youth teams.
Defeat for UEFA President Ceferin
For UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin it is a defeat. Many associations were already surprised that the topic was not on the agenda during the vote in September, but then came up on the table shortly before the start under “miscellaneous”.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin
“We were not aware that UEFA would look into the matter and we must expect better action from UEFA on such an important matter.”criticized Norway’s association president Lise Klaveness.
Federal Ministry of the Interior against the stance of the DFB
The Federal Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for sport, opposed the attitude of the German officials. As long as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues his war of aggression, “Opening the door to international sports competitions for Russia and Belarus is the completely wrong way”said the ministry at the request of the WDR magazine Sport inside.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has repeatedly spoken out against the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes. “Also towards UEFA”as the ministry emphasized. “The full solidarity of sport must continue to go to Ukraine.” When voting, Watzke and Rummenigge referred to UEFA’s argument that children should not be punished for the actions of adults.