U.S. Soccer Says It Won't Play Russia in Any Format After Invasion of Ukraine
The United States Soccer Federation announced on Monday that it would not play Russia "no matter the level of competition or circumstance" until the ongoing military invasion of Ukraine is ceased.
On Monday, FIFA announced that Russia would be banned from all international competitions and that Russian clubs would be banned from UEFA competitions.
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"Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine," the organizing bodies said in a joint statement. "Both presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people."
The football associations from Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic had all said publicly they would not play Russia in scheduled men's World Cup qualifying playoff matches in March.
"The illegal and deeply unjust invasion of Ukraine currently makes all football exchanges with Russia impossible," Karl-Erik Nilsson, the chairman of the Swedish FA, said. "We therefore urge FIFA to decide that the playoff matches in March in which Russia participates will be canceled. But regardless of what FIFA chooses to do, we will not play against Russia in March."
"In light of the escalation of the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine, the Polish national team is not going to play a match against Russian Republic," Poland's FA chief Cezary Kulesza added. "This is the only right decision."
FIFA initially chose against banning Russia outright, instead saying the country had to play under the name the Football Union of Russia and couldn't host international games nor have its flag or anthem be a part of them.
That was met with backlash, however. The football associations from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales also stated they would not play Russia in international football.
On Friday, the 2022 UEFA Champions League final, originally scheduled to be held in Russia's St. Petersburg, was moved to France.
