Russia also excluded from the 2024 European Football Championships which will take place in Germany, where Italy will try to defend the title won a year ago.
The Russian Football Association, excluded from the draw for the qualifiers to be held on 9 October in Frankfurt, said: "The reason derives from the Uefa decision in February to suspend the participation of Russian national teams and clubs in European competitions, and this in fact until 'further notice' ”, reads the press release.
Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on February 24, UEFA and FIFA jointly announced the suspension of Russian national teams and clubs from all their competitions . It is the third major tournament that football Russia is preparing to skip, after the Nations League and the now imminent World Cup in Qatar. The same sanction was applied by the women's European championship which took place in England at the beginning of the summer.
After the press release from the Russian Federation, the confirmation of the Uefa Executive Committee also arrived: " All Russian teams are currently suspended following the decision of the Uefa Executive Committee of 28 February 2022, confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 15 July 2022. Therefore , Russia is not included in the European football qualification draw ”.
(Unioneonline / L)
