The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has refused to lift a FIFA ban on Russian teams
The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has rejected an offer from Russia to freeze a suspension imposed on its football team ahead of next week’s World Cup qualifiers, announced on Friday.
The Russian Football Federation (RFU) had demanded an emergency CAS decision before an official appeal of FIFA’s suspension of the country’s teams from their competitions.
The FIFA ban was imposed after Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, and the organization later said that Russia would not be allowed to play its World Cup qualifier against Poland, which is scheduled for Moscow on March 24.
The winners of that match would face either Sweden or the Czech Republic in a playoff final five days later, with a place at the Qatar World Cup 2022 at stake.
However, all three nations had said they would refuse to play against Russia, before FIFA and UEFA issued a ban on Russian and Belarusian teams from their competitions.
“The contested decision remains in force and all Russian teams and clubs continue to be suspended from participating in FIFA competitions,” it reads. a CAS statement on Friday.
RFU is still believed to be seeking the possibility of having the ban lifted at the time of the international football window in June, something that would affect the play-off final which is currently scheduled for March 29 – and which it looks like would be between Poland and either Sweden or the Czech Republic.
“CAS arbitration continues. A panel of arbitrators is currently being formed and the parties are exchanging written submissions. No negotiations have been set yet,” the CAS statement added, indicating that further rulings on Russia would follow in due course.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s World Cup final against Scotland has already been postponed from next week to June.
Friday’s verdict comes shortly after a similar appeal was dismissed to freeze a ban imposed on Russia by the European football agency UEFA.
Russian athletes and teams have been the subject of suspensions from several sports in recent weeks, with similar measures also against Belarusian athletes.
Russian officials and sports federations have said the sanctions are discriminatory and go against the principle of keeping sports out of politics.
(RT.com)
Source: sn.dk