The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is currently taking steps to reinstate Russia in international football competitions, according to The Independent. According to sources, some football figures would like to “have them back tomorrow”.
“Some believe the country should never have been thrown out in the first place. Internal pressure is growing,” says the report.
FIFA and UEFA suspended Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, not for moral reasons, but because at least 12 European associations refused to play matches against them, with an anticipation that would have risen to 18.
Typically, under such circumstances, as one source claims, the country refusing to play faces a higher risk of suspension. In this case, UEFA and FIFA ultimately had to choose between excluding 12 teams or just one. It became a matter of “preserving the integrity of the competition,” which is why Russia was essentially suspended for technical reasons.
“The moment a Russian child would come, let’s say to Slovenia, and be embraced by a Slovenian child, he would see that we are not enemies and that life will have to go on,” said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said that the Russian war has killed 605 Ukrainian children and injured 1,839 since February 2022.
On 25 March, as a result of a Russian shelling in Donetsk Oblast, a 3-yeard-old child and a woman were killed after Russian forces struck the village of Kurtyvka with a FAB-250 bomb.
Football officials expect that the International Olympic Committee will first take a position on Russia’s return, followed by the International Ice Hockey Federation, creating a wave of support for football.
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- Trump’s Witkoff dismisses Starmer’s Ukraine ceasefire support plan
- Pavel: Ukraine to face territorial compromise without increased Western support
- CNN: While Trump seeks quick peace deal, Putin’s KGB-rooted ambitions extend far beyond Ukraine
