UEFA may strip Russia of Champions League final over Ukraine aggression
(updated): UEFA officials are currently debating whether the showpiece game in European football, a Champions League final, that is due to be played in Russia’s St. Petersburg, can still be held there. The European football league is under pressure...
Lynk
(updated):
UEFA officials are currently debating whether the showpiece game in European football, a Champions League final, that is due to be played in Russia’s St. Petersburg, can still be held there.
The European football league is under pressure to move the Champions League football final from St Petersburg after Russia’s yesterday’s illegal ‘recognition’ of two separatist Ukrainian regions.
The affair was to be the biggest sporting event in Russia since the 2018 World Cup.
A person with knowledge of the situation within the organization said the Ukraine crisis was discussed by top-level UEFA officials on Tuesday, including its president, Aleksander Ceferin.
The European football governing body has not issued a fresh statement since fears were raised of a fuller Russian invasion of Ukraine after Moscow announced on Monday the ‘recognition of independence’ for separatist regions in eastern Ukraine and rolled its troops into Donbass.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it would be “inconceivable” that major international football tournaments could take place in Russia after its illegal ‘recognition’ of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The UK PM made the comments in the House of Commons today when Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey encouraged the prime minister to “push for this year’s Champions League final to be moved from St Petersburg.”
“It is absolutely vital in this critical moment that President Putin understands that what he is doing is going to be a disaster for Russia,” Johnson said.
“It is clear from the response of the world to what he has done already in Donbas that he is going to end up with a Russia that is poorer … a Russia that is more isolated.”
With four representatives in the last 16, England has the most teams remaining in the Champions League. Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee at the House of Commons, has called for UEFA to take the final off Russia.
“This is a shameful decision,” Tugendhat tweeted. “UEFA should not be providing cover to a violent dictatorship.”
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