UEFA Bans Russia from Women's European Championship and World Cup

MAY 3 2022·Updated DEC 24 2022

Story

Image credit: Reuters [via Al Jazeera]

The Facts

On Mon., the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced that Russia is banned from all UEFA competitions, barring the country from the Women's Euro 2022 tournament and qualifying for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.
CNN
The ban means that Russia won't participate in the 2022-2023 season in the Champions League, Europa League, or Europa Conference League, among others.
Al Jazeera
Russia's bid to host the 2028 or 2032 men's European Championship was also ruled ineligible.
wapo
The decisions originate from Feb. measures by UEFA and FIFA to suspend Russia indefinitely from international competitions.
wapo
Russia has faced a series of sports sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine, with the most recent high-profile ban from Wimbledon.
CNN

Sources Split

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The Spin

Pro-Russia narrative

Targeting athletes is misguided and prejudicial. The only thing these sanctions do is unfairly punish athletes because of their nationality. it's hypocritical to punish Russian athletes for their government's actions, but not US athletes for their country invading Iraq for equally unjustified reasons.

Yahoo! News

Anti-Russia narrative

Banning athletes from competing is no easy decision, but a necessary one. The reality is that sports and politics are closely intertwined: Russia uses sports to promote its national image and build consent for its regime. Using sports to send a political message of resistance to the invasion of Ukraine is justified.