FIFA officials decide to kick-out Russia from its soccer competitions, including the upcoming 2022 World Cup hosted in Qatar.
They weren't the only soccer federation to take actions on the matter, however, with the UEFA governing body also deciding that all Russians teams will be suspended from European tournaments until further notice due to the international conflict involving Ukraine.
"Following the initial decisions adopted by the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, which envisaged the adoption of additional measures, FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice." FIFA and UEFA said in a joint-statement.
This comes after both FIFA and UEFA received massive pressure from the International Olympic Committee and European nations, putting both soccer federations in a position where they have decided to disallow Russian teams from participating in their competitions.
Russia were expected to play against Poland in a semifinal game that would've determined if the reach a final versus Sweden or the Czech Republica, which would decide which of those teams gains a spot in the Qatar World Cup taking place this coming November. The Russian women's team will also be affected by this decision on the matter, as they have now been kicked off the European Championships that are set to go underway in England during this coming summer.
In the statement released by FIFA and UEFA, the federations say that they are uniting together on the issue in the name of Football, as their way of showing complete solidarity for the people of Ukraine being affected by the conflict taking place at this time since last Thursday.
"Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people."
