(REUTERS): Russian national teams and clubs have been banned from participating in UEFA competitions “until further notice” following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, European football’s governing body announced.
According to UEFA, Portugal – initially defeated by Russia in a playoff – will replace the country at the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament scheduled for July in England. Russia will not play their two matches scheduled in April for the European qualification to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
For the 2022/23 season, Russia will not have any clubs participating in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League, UEFA Women’s Champions League or UEFA Youth League.
The winners of the Scottish Premiership will take the place of Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg in the 2022-23 Champions League group stage.
UEFA also ruled Russia’s bid to host the men’s Euros in 2028 and 2032 ineligible, which means Britain and Ireland’s joint bid to host Euro 2028 is rivalled only by Turkey, who also declared an interest in hosting the 2032 tournament.
The governing body said Russia’s bid was ineligible in accordance with its regulations, which states “each bidder shall ensure that it does not act in a manner that could bring UEFA, the UEFA final or UEFA final phase, any other bidder, the bidding procedure or European football into disrepute”.
UEFA said in a statement its executive committee took the decisions to “ensure their smooth staging in a safe and secure environment for all those concerned”.
The statement also said Russia will not participate in the Nations League, which begins in June, and will be automatically relegated from their second-tier group.
Russia’s national team had already been kicked out of the qualifying competition for this year’s World Cup in Qatar by FIFA just before a crucial play-off tie against Poland in March. The country’s football federation initially appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport only to drop its legal challenge last month.
Numerous sporting organizations have banned Russian and Belarussian athletes from their competitions in the wake of the invasion, with the most recent high-profile sanction coming from organizers at Wimbledon, who banned tennis players from both countries from competing in this summer’s tournament.
