FIFA President Infantino is in favor of the return of Russian teams to international competitions. The ban had no effect, he says in an interview. UEFA also wants to relax the sanctions.
Gianni Infantino wants to enable Russian teams to take part in international competitions again. “Oh, definitely. We have to. Yes… at least at youth level. This ban has achieved nothing,” replied the president of the world football association FIFA when asked in an interview by the British broadcaster Sky whether FIFA should lift its ban. “It just led to more frustration and hatred,” Infantino argued.
FIFA and the European Football Union Uefa had banned Russian teams from all international competitions. Formally, however, this did not happen as a reaction to the military attack on Ukraine, but rather because of the threat to the “integrity of the competition,” as it is called in football-political language.
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Russia’s men’s national team continues to play international matches outside of major tournaments and is ranked 36th in the official FIFA world rankings. The same applies to the women’s selection, which is 28th in the world rankings.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin had also repeatedly questioned the exclusion of Russian youth teams from official competitions and suggested easing the restrictions. The Slovenian justified this by saying that the young Russian generation would otherwise be permanently isolated internationally.
World Cup boycott under discussion
While the Russians may soon be able to play in all competitions again, football is currently concerned with a possible boycott of the World Cup. The news situation in the USA and the increasingly aggressive policies of US President Donald Trump have sparked a debate about whether the World Cup can actually take place in the USA next summer as planned.
The DFB had recently shown itself to be divided. Association president Bernd Neuendorf criticized the actions of one of his vice presidents. “The colleague hasn’t been there that long,” said Neuendorf about Oke Göttlich.
The president of FC St. Pauli, who is known for his decidedly political stance, emphasized in an interview with the “Hamburger Morgenpost”: “I’m really wondering when the time is to think about it and talk about it specifically. And for me, that time has definitely come.” As a rule, at the DFB, these topics are first discussed in the committees. “Unfortunately he has now rushed ahead with the topic,” countered Neuendorf.
lwö/dpa
