The Ukrainian Football Association sent a letter to FIFA and UEFA with demand to remove the Russian Football Union. This time — because of the beginning of the process of integrating Crimean clubs into our football league system.
Crimea is ready to join the FNLV In early June, two Crimean teams were certified to play in the Second League competitions — Sevastopol and Yalta Rubin. Applications were also submitted by Tavriya Simferopol and Okean from Kerch.
Since 2014, clubs from Crimea have played in a separate championship by decision of UEFA. The hope for integration into the Russian football system was given to the teams by the international organizations themselves. We were suspended from tournaments. This was the catalyst for considering such a possibility.
The admission of the Crimean clubs to the Second League was expectedly followed by an angry letter from the UAF. The Ukrainian association demanded to punish the RFU.
«»The UAF insists on consideration by FIFA and UEFA of this illegal process of absorption of Ukrainian football players by the Russian side, taking measures and searching for opportunities to prevent the development of this process in the future. We also appeal to FIFA and UEFA with a request to consider the possibility of depriving the Russian Federation of membership in FIFA and UEFA from — for proven non-compliance with the requirements of the statutes of the governing bodies of world and European football and the values of the global football family,» the organization said.
It is worth noting that accusations of inconsistency with values sound ridiculous on the part of the organization. After all, it is their president who is under arrest. Andrei Pavelko was detained in November, after a criminal case was opened «on the misuse of international aid funds intended for the construction of an artificial grass plant.» The functionary will remain in custody until mid-August. At the same time, Pavelko was re-elected to the UEFA executive committee in April.
Ukrainian officials do not stop scandalsThe next complaint of sports officials from Ukraine is not surprising. They recently provoked a scandal involving the Russian fencer Valeria Kobzeva. The girl was supposed to take part in the European Championships as a neutral athlete.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine accused the Russian woman of violating the rules allowing her to compete in international tournaments. The International Fencing Federation (FIE) followed the lead of the Ukrainians and removed Kobzeva based on likes on social networks. But not long ago the FIE made a rare decision to allow Russians to compete.
Following this, the European Fencing Confederation (EFC) suspended all Russian and Belarusian athletes. Apparently, so as not to understand once again. And again at the Ukrainian request. The proposal was received at the EFC congress from the head of the Ukrainian Fencing Federation Mikhail Ilyashev. At the same time, the decision is seen as a protest against the actions of the FIE.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is hardly satisfied with such measures. The head of the organization, Thomas Bach, raised the issue of discrimination against Russian athletes at an extraordinary session.
He cited the example of the international taekwondo and judo federations, which allowed Russians to compete. However, the IOC still cannot influence cases of overt discrimination. Russian athletes can only hope for the adequacy of the officials of other sports organizations responsible for making decisions.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors