For the time being, Russian football teams are not allowed to take part in international football, Fifa and Uefa say in a statement.
With the decision, the Russian national team will be excluded from, among other things, the World Championships for men in March and the European Women’s Championships in the summer. Moscow’s Spartak, meanwhile, will be eliminated from the men’s Europa League playoffs.
The decision was made just a day after Fifa’s previous sanctions on Russia. As late as Sunday night, Russian national teams were allowed to play international matches outside their borders without country codes and national anthems.
The sound on the clock changed on Monday as more and more national football associations said they were boycotting playing against Russian national teams. Finland also joined the group shortly before the announcement of Russia’s closure.
The Russian men were scheduled to play in the World Cup qualifiers on the same track in March, along with Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic. In the women’s European Championships, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland were originally drawn to the same group as Russia. Information on changes in competitions and possible substitutes in Russia is not yet available.
At the same time, Uefa said it had withdrawn from a major sponsorship deal with Russian gas giant Gazprom.