FIFA and UEFA suspend Russia from international soccer; sports isolation grows over Ukraine invasion.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” FIFA and UEFA said. “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.”THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
The decision opened the way for FIFA, the governing body of soccer, to exclude Russia from the World Cup ahead of qualifying playoff on March 24. Poland already has refused to play the scheduled game against Russia.It was unclear how the IOC’s request will affect Russian hockey players in the NHL and tennis players, including top-ranked Daniil Medvedev, in Grand Slam, ATP and WTA tournaments outside the authority of the International Tennis Federation.
The IOC said it acted “with a heavy heart,” but noted that the impact of war on Ukrainian sports and athletes who cannot now take part in competitions outweighed the potential damage done to athletes from Russia and Belarus. Sports bodies across Europe already had moved against Russia on Monday by refusing to host or play against teams from the country.
UEFA called a meeting of its executive committee for later Monday and is expected to exclude Russian teams from its competitions based on the IOC announcement. The FIFA Bureau was set to only require the six regional confederation presidents to confirm the decision in writing. The number of Ukrainians fleeing grew to 368,000, mostly women and children, the United Nations’ refugee agency said Sunday.
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