FIFA announced earlier this week that they would allow Russia to compile teams for the upcoming UEFA European U17 Championship.
The move, however, hasn’t gone down well with other nations. In fact, England and Ukraine both threatened to boycott the tournament if Russia is involved.
However, the governing body of the sport now claims that they will not allow other Russian teams in tournaments.
This obviously includes the senior men’s and women’s Russia national teams. Russia began playing competitively again in March, but only in international friendlies. The men’s team is set to play Cameroon and Kenya later this month.
FIFA regulating certain aspects of Russian teams
FIFA issued a statement regarding their decision.
The organization will not allow Russian teams to display their country’s flag during matches. Teams can also not play their national anthem before games or even wear kits in their typical colors.
“Following the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee on September 26th, 2023 to once again allow the participation of Russian representative youth teams at U-17 girls and boys level, the FIFA Council approved an extension of this decision to the FIFA U-17 World Cup and FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup for which UEFA’s competitions serve as a qualification pathway, thus lifting the suspension on teams from Russia taking part in these tournaments,” FIFA recently said in a statement.
“This is conditional on these teams playing under the name of the ‘Football Union of Russia’ rather than ‘Russia’, in the absence of their national flag, their national anthem, their national-team kit and equipment, and instead playing in neutral colors.”
“The FIFA Council reiterated its condemnation of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine and confirmed that the remaining terms of the decision made on February 28th, 2022 remain in force until the end of the conflict.”
Sanctions shifted from prohibiting home matches to complete ban
Russia was initially only banned from hosting international soccer matches following the invasion of Ukraine.
However, the nation was then essentially barred from the 2022 World Cup and 2024 Euros. Although Russia has recently been able to schedule friendlies, the tournament ban continues for the senior teams.
Photo credit: IMAGO / Bild13
