CAS deny Russian stay request over UEFA football ban

Russia's hopes of participating in upcoming world football matches have been severely dented as the Court of Arbitration for Sport ('CAS') denied the Football Union of Russia ('FUR') application for a stay against the decision to ban Russian teams and clubs from UEFA competition.

The CAS announced in a media release that the President of the Appeals Arbitration Division of the Court denied the FUR petition to stay the UEFA Executive Committee decision to ban them on 28 February 2022. The FUR were seeking that appealed decision be stayed for the duration of the CAS proceedings.

No details of the CAS President's reasons were provided in the media release.

As a result, Russian teams continued to be suspended from UEFA events such as the Europa League and women's Euros.

According to the media release, the parties did not agree to an expedited procedure for the hearing of the substantive issue, and a hearing date has not yet been fixed. As a result, the hearing is now left subject to the vagaries of CAS lists and would not be expected to reach a resolution for some time.

The UEFA appeal also saw FUR join footballing governing bodies of Greece, Belarus, Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria, Malta, Portugal, England and France as respondents.

The CAS media release expressly referred to the UEFA decision and not the FIFA decision also subject to a FUR appeal. That means, theoretically at least, the Russian men's team still has hopes of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. The CAS said their decision on the FUR's request to stay the execution of the appealed FIFA decision was "likely to be issued at the end of this week."

The Russian team were scheduled to play in the final stages of World Cup qualifying against Poland on 29 March. Instead, the Polish team was issued with a bye, which is a key subject of the FUR appeal.

CAS Media Release (15 March 2022)

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