Sports judges confirm Russia's exclusion from World Cup playoffs

Created: 03/18/2022Updated: 03/18/2022 12:15 p.m

The international sports tribunal Cas in Lausanne confirmed Russia's exclusion from the World Cup playoffs.

© Dominic Favre/KEYSTONE/dpa

Sports judges have confirmed FIFA's decision to exclude Russia from World Cup qualifiers.

The Russians' objection was rejected.

Lausanne - Russia's national football team is excluded from the playoffs for the World Cup in Qatar.

The International Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) rejected the Russians' appeal against the decision of the world governing body FIFA not to allow the team to play in the qualifying games because of the war in Ukraine.

On March 24, Russia was scheduled to play Poland in the playoff for the World Cup in Qatar.

According to the will of FIFA, the Polish selection instead enters the second playoff phase without a game.

There the team around Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski meets the winner of the game between Sweden and the Czech Republic on March 29 and plays for the World Cup ticket.

Also excluded clubs

The Cas judges had already decided on Tuesday that Russian teams would still not be allowed to take part in European competitions.

The Russian Association (RFU) had appealed against the decisions of FIFA and the European Football Union UEFA at the Cas in Lausanne.

The federations had decided to ban Russia from all competitions because of the invasion of Ukraine.

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This exclusion will now remain after the Cas decision for the time being.

The procedure of the Sports Court is ongoing, however, a hearing has not yet been scheduled according to Cas information from Friday.

Russia's association had described the sanctions as "explicitly discriminatory" at the beginning of March and announced legal steps in sports.

The aim of the appeal was the reintegration of all men's and women's teams into the tournaments - including qualification for the World Cup in Qatar - as well as compensation, the Russian association had announced.

Ban also for athletes from Belarus

According to its own statements, the Sports Court had initiated two separate arbitration proceedings and first obtained the statements of the defendants.

The Russian association had demanded that the contested decisions by FIFA and UEFA be overturned.

At the same time, the RFU had submitted an application to suspend the measures.

This was rejected by the sports judges.

Russian athletes and teams have been banned from competing in most sports because of the Ukraine team.

The ban also affects athletes from Belarus, which is allied with Russia.

dpa