Court of Arbitration for Sports upholds World Cup ban on Russia

The Court of arbitration for sport has decided to upheld FIFA’s ban on Russia regarding their participation in the 2022 World Cup which will be taking place in Qatar. This decision came after the Russian football federation had appealed the decision taken by UEFA and FIFA which stated that the Russian national team and clubs had been banned from all competitions “until further notice”.

This decision was taken by both the associations after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had urged all the sporting bodies to not include Russian athletes and officials in international tournaments. The IOC clearly stated that this ban on the Russian teams  was needed to “protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants.”

Earlier, countries like Poland, Albania, Sweden and the Czech Republic had showed their hesitation to lock horns with Russian teams in various competitions as well. Russian sports have found themselves in the the pit hole after the country’s invasion of Ukraine as they have faced some difficult sanctions being put on them.

On Tuesday, March 15, the CAS also upheld UEFA’s ban on participating in tournaments. “The challenged decision remains in force and all Russian teams and clubs continue to be suspended from participation in UEFA competitions,” a CAS statement read.

“The CAS decisions on the requests to stay the execution of the FIFA decisions for the duration of the CAS proceedings are likely to be issued at the end of this week,”

the statement added.

Due to this ban on the Russian teams, Spartak Moscow were unable to play their Europa League round of 16 tie with RB Leipzig after the decision taken by UEFA and FIFA.