Jesper Möller, President of Denmark’s Football Association, sees the wish “in parts of UEFA and FIFA” to allow Russian teams to be allowed again. At first, however, the IOC is on the train.
Möller, who is also a member of the mighty UEFA Executive Committee, who decided in 2022 to exclude Russian team, spoke on Saturday at a press conference after a congress of the Danish association. When asked whether there are parts in the UEFA and FIFA, which supports a return of Russian teams, said Möller: “They exist. Of course they are available in FIFA, in the UEFA and also in the IOC.”
Möller: First the IOC has to decide
US President Donald Trump is currently pushing Ukraine into a “peace agreement” with Russia. Formers from the UEFA and FIFA had recently greeted greetings from their President Aleksander Ceferin and Gianni Infantino at the congress of the Russian association and spoke in kind words of a possible return without naming conditions.
Möller now restricted: “If nothing happens in relation to a peace agreement or anything else, nothing will change in the current situation.” He referred to the IOC. “It starts in the IOC and then it goes down through the system. They are the ones who open the system”said Möller. “Now everyone is waiting for the IOC session at the end of March, where the topic will be on the agenda. It will not be on the agenda of FIFA before it is not on the agenda of the IOC.”
The upcoming IOC session, in which a new IOC president is also elected, will take place from March 19 to 21 at the Greek Costa Navarino.
2022: UEFA and FIFA wanted to continue playing Russia
When Russia’s leadership began his violent war of attack in February 2022, FIFA and UEFA tried to solve the problem with a special procedure: Russia’s flag and hymn should not be used temporarily to continue playing the teams under the name “Football Association from Russia”.
The associations from Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic destroyed the idea and announced not to compete against Russia in the playoffs of qualification for the 2022 World Cup. “The Polish national team will not play against Russia, no matter what the team is called”the Polish association president Cezary Kulesza said at the time. A double -digit number of European associations followed the example, the DFB was not among them.
The FIFA and UEFA left no choice: they suspended the Russian teams of participating in their competitions, Russia’s association appealed to the International Sports Court CAS. The sanction is not a punishment for the war of aggression – but a measure “to secure the integrity of the competition” because teams refused to play against Russia.