March 9 – The Russian Football Union has formally lodged an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the FIFA and UEFA decisions to suspend Russian national teams and club sides from their competitions.
The decision taken February 28 removes Russia from World Cup qualification and was made after the Polish, Swedish and Czech FA’s all said they would not play Russia in the Qatar 2022 final qualifying play-offs, even if it meant they could not qualify for the World Cup finals.
The UEFA decision meant that Spartak Moscow were withdrawn from the last 16 of the Europa League. They were due to play their first leg against RB Leipzig on Thursday.
In a statement CAS said: “The FIFA appeal has been filed against Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the Polish Football Association, the Swedish Football Association, the Czech Football Association, the Football Association of Montenegro and the Malta Football Association.
“The UEFA appeal has been filed against UEFA, the Hellenic Football Federation, the Belarus Football Federation, the Danish Football Association, the Luxembourgish Football Association, the Austrian Football Association, the Malta Football Association, the Portuguese Football Federation, the English Football Association, the Spanish Football Association, the Irish Football Association and the French Football Association.”
Russia is asking for all its teams and clubs to be re-instated in FIFA and UEFA competitions. It is also asking for the suspensions to be put on hold while a judgement is being reached.
CAS said: “Together with each statement of appeal, the FUR has also filed a request to stay the execution of each challenged decision. The CAS Court Office has initiated two separate arbitration procedures and, in accordance with the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (the arbitration rules governing CAS procedures), will seek the position of the respondent parties with respect to the FUR’s requests to stay the execution of the Challenged Decisions and as to the organization and planning of each arbitration procedure.”
Russia will not have to wait long for the first decision. “CAS anticipates being able to share further information on the proceedings through a media release in a few days’ time, once a decision has been issued with respect to the requests for a stay,” said the CAS statement.
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