UEFA bans Russia from women’s Euros and World Cup, clubs banned next season 

Russia has been barred from competing in the Women’s European Championship in July and from qualifying for next year’s World Cup by UEFA, the governing body of European soccer said on Monday. 

Portugal will take the place of Russia in the July 6-31 event in England, having lost in the qualification play-offs against Russia. They will be joined in Group C by the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. 

UEFA also deemed Russia’s bids to host the men’s Euros in 2028 and 2032 invalid, meaning that Britain and Ireland’s combined bid to host Euro 2028 is only rivalled by Turkey, which has also shown interest in hosting the tournament in 2032. 

Russia’s proposal was deemed ineligible by the governing organisation, which stipulates that “each bidder should guarantee that its conduct does not bring UEFA, the UEFA final or UEFA final phase, any other bidder, the bidding system, or European football into disgrace.” 

Additionally, Russian teams will be excluded from next season’s UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League. 

The Scottish Premiership champions will take the place of Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League group stage in 2022-23. 

UEFA said in a statement that the choices were made to “guarantee their smooth staging in a safe and secure environment for all those involved.” 

Additionally, the announcement said that Russia would not participate in the next Nations League and will be immediately demoted from their second-tier group. 

UEFA and FIFA have barred Russian clubs and national teams from their tournaments until further notice in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow has described as a “special military operation.” 

Due to the penalties, German team RB Leipzig moved to this season’s Europa League quarter-finals at the cost of Russian side Spartak Moscow, after their last-16 encounter was postponed. 

In March, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) denied a plea by Russia’s football association (FUR) to freeze FIFA’s ban, thereby ruling out Russia’s participation in the World Cup in Qatar, before the FUR dropped its appeal. 

Several national soccer organisations, including those of Poland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, said they would boycott matches against Russia in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Edited By: Vanshika Sahu

Published By: Bhavya Dedhia