St. PETERSBURG, May 4, Taras Barabash. Ex-owner of the Moscow «Spartak» Andrei Chervichenko believes that the President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Alexander Ceferin, was not able to allow Russian clubs to participate in European competitions and allow the Russian team to play in the League of Nations. On Monday, the UEFA executive committee decided not to allow Russian football clubs to participate in European competitions in the 2022/23 season, and the Russian team before playing in the League of Nations. It was also decided to remove the Russian youth team from participation in the European Championship. The women's team will not play in the final part of Euro 2022 and in the qualification of the 2023 World Cup, and the application of the Russian Football Union (RFU) for interest in hosting the European Championship in 2028 or 2032 has been rejected. «It seems that it is not the football authorities who decide here , and not even Aleksander Čeferin, but the tame governments of European states, which, like puppet toys on strings, jump under the control of America.Even if some sane Europeans would say «well, let them play,» the Americans would put pressure on the governments, and those in in turn, at the football structures, so that they shouted that they would not take the field and would ignore tournaments with the participation of Russians. Ceferin could only shrug his shoulders. He could not allow the Russians to compete,» Chervichenko said. «There is a public obstruction. It began with the fact that the Poles, Czechs and Swedes began to squeal that it was impossible to play with Russia in «joints», and then everyone else picked it up. Bole situation is very different from tennis, where many of the strongest just supported us. We do not see this in football,» the agency's interlocutor added.
