March 12, 2023
Today we're taking a look at what has happened to football in Russia in the year since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the sporting sanctions that followed.
It's pretty mad to think that less than five years ago Russia hosted the World Cup, the globe's biggest sporting event in terms of viewership, welcoming millions of fans from around the world to a tournament that was ultimately very successful for the country.
The host nation went on a memorable run to the quarter-finals, beating former champions Spain en route; president Vladimir Putin seemingly proved his claim that Russia was "an open, friendly and hospitable country" following concerns about the country's hooligan culture with a tournament largely devoid of fan violence; and four years after the annexation of Crimea, which led to years of military conflict in eastern Ukraine, and just months after the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal on British soil, an attack which despite Russia's continued denials of having any involvement in led to them being condemned by multiple western nations, the tournament helped consolidate Putin's position on the world stage, rubbing shoulders with a number of world leaders and FIFA president Gianni Infantino in front of tens of millions of television viewers.
Subsequently, St Petersburg was awarded the 2022 Champions League final, and Russia hosted seven games at the delayed Euro 2020 tournament in the summer of 2021 – only England hosted more – as they bid to host the tournament in 2028. But less than 12 months after that, the picture of Russian football could not have looked more different, after FIFA and UEFA made a joint-decision to suspend the country's national teams and clubs from participating in their tournaments following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which Putin labelled a “special military operation.”
This has led to a mass exodus of players from the previously lucrative Russian Premier League, the national teams having almost no one to play against, and reports that Russia's football federation are considering the possibility of leaving UEFA to join the Asian Football Confederation.
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By Euro Football Daily
