Nancy Faeser wants to see both Russia and Belarus prohibited from playing in the tournament
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture alliance via Getty Images © Getty Images
Germany and its interior minister Nancy Faeser want to see Russia and Belarus banned from the Euro 2024 football tournament and have sent a letter to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin on the topic according to local media.
Germany are set to host the competition for the first time since 1988, and three weeks ahead of the draw for the qualifying groups in Frankfurt, Der Spiegel say that Faeser has sent a letter to the European governing body noting how Russia are already banned from international competitions and demanding the same treatment for Belarus.
Faeser argued that Belarus, who have never qualified for a major tournament and played their UEFA Nations League home games in Serbia in June without fans present, should be excluded from all international football matches and tournaments due to them being “essential supporters of the Russian leadership” in the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine.
Furthermore, the German politician added that UEFA should also suspend Russian and Belarusian officials from “the influential bodies of international sports federations” because football should “live up to its responsible role and show a united stance against this form of disregard for human rights”.
“All those responsible must be deprived of any possibility of sporting participation, influence or other representation,” it was also said.
The Athletic say that UEFA have already received the correspondence and will respond to it in due course.
Faeser and Germany’s request follows a similar one from Ukrainian FA (UAF) president Andriy Pavelko, who similarly requested that Russia be excluded from the qualifying group draw on October 1 this week.
Russia should be “completely isolated on the international stage, including in football” Pavelko wrote on the association’s official website, adding that the organization is “currently making efforts at the UEFA level” to prevent Russia from participating in the draw.
As the bodies followed an International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendation heeded by many sporting federations, UEFA and FIFA excluded all Russian teams from international football competitions in February.
This saw Russia’s men’s team thrown out of contention for the Qatar 2022 World Cup in November, and the women’s team removed from the group phase of the Euro 2022 won by hosts England.
In early May, UEFA then announced that its sanctions would be extended to the 2022/23 season, but it hasn’t made any formal statements on whether Russia can take part in Euro 2024 qualifying matches yet.
In the same statement on the UAF’s website, Pavelko also repeated calls for UEFA and FIFA to step in and stop a planned friendly between Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg in November.
“We are doing everything possible to prevent the match from taking place,” Pavelko clarified.
