In a U-turn from its previous stance, football's international governing body FIFA and UEFA, which runs international matches in Europe, have together imposed a ban on Russia and its club teams from all competitions in the wake of Moscow's war on Ukraine.
A statement shared by FIFA reads, "... FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice."
FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) February 28, 2022
▶️ https://t.co/Q2htzW3W9z pic.twitter.com/LFo1bUtqmm
It added, "These decisions were adopted today by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, respectively the highest decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters.
"Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people."
The ban is viewed as a U-turn as it comes hours after FIFA announced only a few strict measures including not allowing Russia to play international matches with its country name.
With the ban, Russia's men's team will miss out on the World Cup qualifying semi final to be played against Poland on Mar 24.
The women's team will miss the European Championship scheduled to be held in England in July.
Russian troops resume attack on Kyiv: Ukraine military
The Ukraine's military on Tuesday stated that Russian troops have resumed their attack on the capital Kyiv.
"The situation around Kyiv remains tense," warns a social media post from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"Despite the fact that the enemy is losing offensive potential, he continues to inflict fire on military and civilian targets," it read as reported by BBC.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.