Russia is cornered

The FIFA Council that is being held today in Doha can mark a before and after. One of the items of the day on the agenda talks about the ratification of the sanctions that the FIFA Bureau approved against Russia at the beginning of March as an urgent measure because of what happened in the Ukraine war. Then it was decided to suspend all Russian clubs and teams from any competition.

FIFA’s next step is to go further. In the Council the Russians can be definitively expelled from the competitions, something that the TAS endorsed with its ruling after the appeal filed by the Russian Federation after learning of the suspension of FIFA and UEFA competitions.

However, there are options that the matter will rumble even more. The most drastic measure would be to remove Russia from FIFA membership, that is, to expel him from its bosom. Although it is not usual despite the precedents with other countries that went to war, It already happened, for example, in the 70s when South Africa lived through the harsh racial era. “Russia is as apartheid as that”, a Shakthar representative was quick to tell the Reuters agency as a prelude to what they expect.

The Russians, for their part, believe that FIFA will not make such a harsh decision. They know that they are against the ropes and they travel to the FIFA Congress with the desire to reach a consensus with the others, as announced one of their spokesmen. “There has never been government interference in our federation, not even now,” he explained.or. However, the invasion initiated by Putin leaves them in the worst possible place. And FIFA can make them pay for it.