The ban on participation in European football competitions for clubs from Russia was upheld on Tuesday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The judgment rendered urgently by the CAS is linked to the sanction imposed by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in concert with FIFA on February 28. It deprives Spartak Moscow of its participation in the Europa League. Spartak’s opponents in the round of 16, German club Leipzig, therefore obtained a bye to the quarter-finals.
This judgment is provisional, pending the completion of the appeal process in the coming weeks, and it does not apply to Russia’s chances of being readmitted to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.
This latest sanction imposed by FIFA is part of a similar, but separate, appeal filed by the Russian Football Federation. The CAS could decide in this case this week. Russia were due to face Poland in the World Cup qualifier on March 24.
The verdict rendered Tuesday by the CAS gives an indication of how the international tribunal could decide in this case. Last week, FIFA granted Poland a bye allowing them to reach the final of the qualifiers. The Polish Federation and its players have indicated that they will refuse to face Russia.
The decision was made exclusively by the chair of the tribunal’s Appeals Committee, Corinne Schmidhauser, who did not publish the reasons leading to this decision. The appeal case will be heard by a full panel of three judges.
Athletes and teams from Russia have been banned from dozens of sports since their country invaded Ukraine last month.
Russia’s under-21 and youth teams, both men’s and women’s, were due to qualify for the European Championships in the coming weeks.
The Russian Federation’s appeal against UEFA also names its next opponents as a stakeholder, including the federations of Belarus, England, France, Portugal and Spain.
The one filed against FIFA involves the federations of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, all in the same portion of the elimination table. The Swedes and the Czechs have also declared that they do not want to face the Russians.