At the FIFA Congress at the end of March, 187 of the 191 delegates voted in Russian as one of FIFA’s six official languages.
Zabko writes that after such a vote, the LFF does not see an opportunity to continue its work at a time when all the world’s sports organizations are isolating themselves from Russia and Belarus. He submitted an application to the President of the LFF, Vadim Lashenko, to resign from the duties of the Appeals Committee.
“I want to emphasize that I have no claims against any language, especially Russian, which I use every day to communicate both in Latvia and abroad, but I think this was a very inappropriate time to confirm it as one of FIFA’s official languages.” writes Zabko.
He believes that Russia and Belarus can see such a vote as support for FIFA’s actions in connection with the war in Ukraine.
Zabko, who has served on the Appeals Committee for less than two years, is calling on LFF members at Friday’s Congress to support his choice to vote to suspend him from the committee. He also calls for each candidate for any position at the LFF to be seriously considered in the future.
