The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is also having a massive impact on world sport. The Swiss Federal Court has now finally confirmed that Russia’s football clubs are not allowed to take part in international competitions. The reason for this is a missed deadline.
Russian football teams remain banned from participating in European and international competitions. The Russian side has missed the deadline for appeals against the suspensions by world governing body FIFA and European Football Union UEFA, according to a decision by the Federal Court in Lausanne, Switzerland. The complaint should have been filed by January 13, but did not arrive in Lausanne until February 10, it said. The federal court published the decision on February 20 on its website.
FIFA and UEFA approved the suspension last year shortly after the Russian attack on Ukraine. The International Court of Arbitration for Sports CAS in Lausanne confirmed the decisions on November 25 and dismissed the complaints from Russia. For the Russian side, the Federal Supreme Court was the final instance. The suspensions are now final due to the late filing of the complaint and the court’s decision to refuse to hear the case.
The sport far beyond football has imposed far-reaching sanctions since the outbreak of war. On February 28, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus be banned from international competitions until further notice “to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and the safety of all participants”. Since then, major events have no longer taken place in Russia and Belarus, and the national teams of both countries have de facto disappeared. Russia, still hosting the World Cup in 2018 and record world champion in ice hockey, is only a spectator as a sporting nation.
The sport is in an enormous field of tension as a result of the war. How long are sanctions against athletes from Russia and Belarus, who are not to blame for the outbreak and progress, permissible? They are victims of politics, and most of them are practically subject to an international ban on working. On the other hand, allowing the war mongers to do free propaganda would amount to it. That’s why IOC President Thomas Bach has been talking about a “dilemma” for which the best possible compromise has to be found since last autumn. A question that puts sport and politics to the test.
