The announcement also affects Russian clubs involved in European competitions.
FIFA along with the European Football Associations (UEFA) suspended Russian national teams and clubs from international football on Monday as its invasion of Ukraine continues.
“These decisions were adopted by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, respectively the highest decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters,” said FIFA.
The decision came following international calls to ban Russia from international sporting events, after it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.
Double standards on the pitch: when does mixing sports with politics become acceptable?
On Tuesday, the UN said that 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion. The rights organisation said that 400 civilians have been injured, including 26 children.
The football body expressed its “full solidarity” with the people in Ukraine, adding that the presidents of FIFA and UEFA “hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity”.
Poland was scheduled to play against Russia on 24 March in the 2022 World Cup playoffs. Their suspension means that they will not be participating in the major sporting event in Qatar.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had also called for banning Russia and Belarus, which has supported the Russian invasion, from participating in tournaments. The IOC said that Russia and Belarus have breached the Olympic Truce.
“In order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants, the IOC EB recommends that International Sports Federations and sports event organisers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions,” it said.
The recent ban on Russia has also raised questions over double standards in the sports industry, as no such moves were made against other countries that have carried out harrowing crimes in various countries.
This includes Israel, which has occupied Palestine for over 70 years and continues to carry out harsh human rights violations against Palestinians. More recently, Israel mulled over the possibility of hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
There was also complete silence from the football world during the US invasion of both Afghanistan and Iraq, where tens of thousands of civilians were killed and subjected to torture.
Syria has been subjected to bombardment by the Bashar Al Assad regime with military backing from Russia since 2015, under the pretext of “fighting jihadists”. Russia has been accused of killing thousands of Syrians, as well as systematically bombing non-regime held areas in Syria.
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