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FIFA is in talks over suspending Russia from international football until further notice.
A formal decision is expected from world football’s governing body in the coming hours on Monday. Reuters reports that FIFA is set to announce the suspension of Russia’s international teams. The move comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that all Russian and Belarussian athletes be banned from international events following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The IOC’s executive board made the decision “in order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants.”
FIFA has come under heavy criticism for its response to Russian actions in Ukraine. Their president Gianni Infantino initially expressed his desire that the conflict would be over in time for the World Cup qualifier between Russia and Poland on March 24 before the FIFA Council announced on Sunday that Russia would be unable to play matches on home soil and must compete under the name “Football Union of Russia.”
Those actions were deemed insufficient by the football associations of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic — one of the latter two could face Russia in a qualifying match with a place at Qatar 2022 on the line — all of whom reaffirmed their earlier stance that they would not play a team representing the country. That stance was echoed by numerous other European countries with France calling for their expulsion from the World Cup.
U.S. Soccer joined the calls for Russia to play no part in international football. A statement on Monday said: “The U.S. Soccer Federation stands united with the people of Ukraine and is…
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Source : cbssports
