Russia sanctions greater than players: UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin on banning Russia from all competitions
India Today
The UEFA banned the Russian national team and the clubs affiliated to the Russian FA from all competitions in the aftermath of the Ukraine invasion. UEFA president on Wednesday made his thoughts clear on the matter.
Aleksander Ceferin, the president of UEFA made his thoughts clear about banning Russian from all competitions in the aftermath of the Ukraine invasion by Vladimir Putin. The blanket ban came on May 2 and was a huge hit to Russian athletes who would have been looking forward to the packed schedule in the next coming years.
The president said that the idea for the association was to promote football in Europe with the aim of peace and prosperity and it believed that the Russian sanctions were bigger than the individual athletes.
"When UEFA issues unprecedented sanctions, football is trying to make its own tiny contribution to society and Europe's leaders as they strive for peace in the continent,” the UEFA boss said.
“Promoting football in Europe in a spirit of peace - that is also a statutory objective of UEFA. It may be seen as a dangerous precedent, but in this case the cause is greater than anything else. The cause is greater than the careers of a few hundred footballers and the tradition of footballing neutrality that is no longer teneble in 2022 in this situation of war,” he further added.
Stating that he hoped common sense would prevail eventually, Ceferin said that the war is neither helping the Russian or the Ukraine citizens and hoped that the athletes will be back soon after all of this is over.
“All we can do now is hope that reason prevails as quickly as possible, that order is restored and we have peace. For the good not only of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters but also for our Russian brothers and sisters. And I hope they are back with us as soon as possible."
Ceferin agreed that football was at a loss over the situation but that could not be helped given there were bigger things to worry about.
