MOSCOW, 30 Apr. The President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Aleksander Ceferin, believes that Russian football players are unfairly subjected to sanctions due to the situation in Ukraine. Let us recall that Russian clubs and teams have been suspended for two months from participating in tournaments under the auspices of FIFA and UEFA because of the situation in Ukraine. Russian football players continue to play in foreign championships without restrictions. Foreign football players in Russia were allowed to unilaterally terminate agreements with clubs.
"Russian and Belarusian football players should not be subject to sanctions, because they are not guilty of the conflict. That is why UEFA would like to show goodwill and demonstrate in practice that the sanctions are not moderate in relation to athletes and people. The suspension of UEFA from Russian and Belarusian football clubs may be lifted in the near future. UEFA will soon decide whether Russian clubs will be able to play in European competition", 24sata.hr quotes Čeferin with reference to the Slovenian publication Vecer.
Due to sanctions, Spartak Moscow lost the opportunity to play in the 1/8 finals of the Europa League , and the Russian team was unable to take part in the play-offs for a ticket to the World Cup.