Russia to appeal against their World Cup ban

The Russian football federation has decided that they will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to appeal against their ban which will not allow Russia to play in the 2022 FIFA World Cup and other similar international events as well. FIFA and UEFA had given a statement regarding the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and had stated that all the Russian football clubs and their national team will be suspended from participating in any sporting event until further notice as they stand against the Russian Government’s decision to invade Ukraine.

The Russian men’s team were also going to play against Poland in their WC play-off but won’t be able to do so now. In response to this statement, the RFU have released a statement saying that “FIFA and UEFA did not have a legal basis when deciding on the suspension of Russian teams. It violated the fundamental rights of the RFU as a member of FIFA and UEFA, including the right to take part in competitions. The Russian Football Union was also not granted the right to present its position, which violated the fundamental right to defence.”

It said “FIFA and UEFA did not take into account other possible options”.

Their World Cup play-off opponents had also refused to play against the country after which FIFA had deemed it “impossible” to organize the game with a nation involved in war-like scenarios at the moment. To this, the RFU said that “The decision to withdraw the national team from qualification for the 2022 World Cup was made under pressure from direct rivals in the play-offs, which violated the sporting principle and the rules of fair play.”

Russia will be waiting to see what comes out of this appeal and what the CAS thinks about it in the coming days.