June 27 – UEFA have blocked Sheriff Tiraspol from hosting European competition games in its breakaway home region in Moldova in the latest football-related fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
UEFA have ruled that the club, which has strong links to Russia, cannot host Bosnian champion Zrinjski on July 13 for a second-leg game in the first qualifying round of the next Champions League.
“In light of the large-scale military escalation resulting in the invasion of the Ukrainian territory by the Russian army, the UEFA executive committee has today decided that no UEFA competition match shall be played in the region of Transnistria, in Moldova, until further notice,” UEFA said.
Tiraspol is also about 90 kilometers from the Ukrainian city of Odesa, which is a regular target of Russian missiles. Tiraspol is the capital and largest city in Transnistria, an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as part of Moldova and is situated on a strip of land between the Dniester river and the Moldovan-Ukraine border, with Tiraspol being situated on the other side of the river.
“The decision is based on considerations and the conclusions consistently drawn by agencies specialised in international political and strategic analysis,” UEFA said.
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