You tolerate Russia’s aggressive policy! Ukrainian federation rejects UEFA’s decision, England joins in

The Ukrainian federation disagrees with the recent decision of UEFA, which speaks about the return of Russian youth teams to its competitions. According to the Ukrainian federation, this condones Russia’s aggressive policy, and the English Football Association has also expressed its disapproval.

At a meeting in Limassol on Tuesday, UEFA decided on the return of Russian youth teams to its competitions. As for senior Russian clubs and national teams, they will remain excluded from competitions for the duration of the war in Ukraine.

And what is the reason for this UEFA decision? According to the football governing body’s latest statement, children should not be punished for acts for which adults are primarily responsible.

In practice, then, this will mean that these youth teams will not be allowed to play their matches on Russian territory. They will also not be allowed to use state symbols, the flag or the anthem.

The chairman of football’s governing body, Aleksander Čeferin, then said that he regarded the ban on children taking part in UEFA competitions as direct discrimination.

But the English Football Association disagreed, saying it would not allow Young Lions teams to play against their Russian counterparts. And now the Ukrainian federation has also objected to the governing body’s decision.

What does the Ukrainian federation’s statement say?

“The Ukrainian Federation insists on maintaining the previous decisions of UEFA and FIFA to ban all Russian teams from international competitions. We will not take part in any competitions involving Russian teams and appeal to other UEFA member associations to boycott any matches involving teams from the Russian Federation,” the Ukrainian federation said.

“We are convinced that taking similar decisions on the gradual return of Russian teams to competitions during the hostilities waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine is unjustified and tolerates Russia’s aggressive policy,” the official statement also said.

Finally, the Ukrainian federation strongly urged UEFA to reconsider this decision and to maintain the previous decision on the total exclusion of Russian teams.

Source: UEFA, Ukrainian Association of Football