MOSCOW, July 15, Oleg Bogatov.Honorary President of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Vyacheslav Koloskov said that given the general negative situation in the world in relation to Russian sports, it was difficult to hope for favorable verdicts from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the RFU's appeals against the decision of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and International Football Federation (FIFA) on the removal of Russian clubs and national teams from international tournaments.CAS rejected the appeals of the RFU, Moscow clubs CSKA and Dynamo, St. Petersburg Zenit and Sochi on the ban on participation in international competitions imposed by UEFA and FIFA. In early May, the UEFA Executive Committee suspended all Russian club and national teams from participating in international tournaments under the auspices of the organization for the 2022/23 season due to the events in Ukraine. Due to this verdict, clubs will not be allowed to compete in European competitions, and the Russian team will be excluded from the list of participants in the new season of the League of Nations and will eventually lose their place in division B. «From the point of view of the general sports policy towards Russia, unfortunately, this is the decision of CAS expected,” Koloskov said, “Recently, one of the IOC members said that Russia would most likely not be allowed to the Olympics in 2024. In addition, it is still not clear when our teams and clubs will play international matches at all. our sport is quite negative, so I personally did not hope for any positive decisions on our appeal to the CAS. Favorable results could not be expected.» the timing of the return of Russian football to the international arena — We must prepare for each season, as the Russian national teams plan: the main, and youth, and women's, and beach. but the exact time cannot be given. After all, a lot depends on the speed of completion of the special military operation, as well as on the authority and activity of our representatives in international sports organizations. There are many such components, but I would advise teams and clubs to be ready for every season. «In March, UEFA and FIFA issued a joint verdict on the removal of Russia from international competitions, due to which the Russian team was excluded from participation in the play-offs for reaching the World Cup — 2022, and Spartak Moscow lost the opportunity to play in the 1/8 finals of the Europa League. All UEFA and FIFA verdicts were challenged by the Russian side in CAS. At the same time, CAS refused to consider the RFU's appeal in an expedited manner and did not cancel the FIFA and UEFA verdict on the time of the consideration of the case, because of which the Russian team could not regain a place in the play-offs.
