Nyon (dpa) – The European Football Union has specified and further tightened the sanctions against Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is not allowed to apply for the European Championships in 2028 or 2032, nor is the country allowed to participate in the Nations League or the Women’s European Championship in the summer. In addition, the executive decided on May 2 that neither men’s nor women’s teams may play in European club competitions in the 2022/2023 season.
Despite isolation from the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia had been aiming for the 2028 or 2032 European Championship. Russia has experience with hosting big tournaments, the head of the association, Alexander Dyukov, justified the application. The country hosted the 2018 World Cup, in 2021 several matches of the European Championship were held in St. Petersburg.
As UEFA has now announced, the executive has declared the applications inadmissible. This was justified by the fact that applicants must ensure, among other things, that their behavior does not bring UEFA, other applicants, the application process or European football into disrepute. In addition, an application precludes the exclusion of Russian teams from all competitions because the host of a final round is automatically entitled to a starting place.
UEFA and the world association FIFA had excluded national and club teams from Russia from all competitions because of the aggressive war in Ukraine. The latest decision also stipulated that the Russian men’s selection was not allowed to participate in the Nations League and that the team was relegated from the B-League.
The women’s national team has been excluded from the EM from July 6th to 31st in England. She is replaced by Portugal. Russia will also not play any more games in the qualification for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the previous results would be canceled and Group E with Denmark, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Malta and Azerbaijan would continue as a group of five.
The same applies to elimination for the U21 European Juniors 2023 in Georgia and Romania, where the players in Group C only continue with Spain, Slovakia, Malta, Lithuania and Northern Ireland.