FIFA and UEFA have suspended all Russian international and club teams from their competitions «until further notice,» the governing bodies announced in a joint statement on Monday.
World football’s governing body, FIFA, and European football’s governing body, UEFA, said that both organizations’ presidents — Gianni Infantino and Aleksander Čeferin — «hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.» UEFA’s club competitions include the men’s and women’s Champions League, the men’s Europa League and the men’s UEFA Conference League. Spartak Moscow had been due to play RB Leipzig in the Europa League, with the first leg in Germany on March 10 and the second leg scheduled for March 17, but that game has now been called off. «The UEFA Europa League matches between RB Leipzig and FC Spartak Moskva cannot take place, and, as a consequence, RB Leipzig are qualified to the quarter-finals of the competition,» UEFA said in a statement. There are no Russian teams remaining in UEFA’s other club competitions this season.
