Mar 9, 2022 2 min read

CAS Registers Football Union of Russia appeals against sanction

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ('CAS') has announced today they have registered promised appeals filed by the Football Union of Russia ('FUR') in response to their suspension from FIFA and UEFA international competition.

The suspensions were issued as part of a wide-ranging sanction campaign against the country for its invasion of Ukraine.

The CAS media release outlines the FUR applications are appealing against the decisions of the Bureau of FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, both of 28 February 2022.

The CAS confirmed they would run the appeals as two distinct arbitration procedures.

The FIFA appeal seeks to overturn the decision to ban Russian national teams from international competition- excluding them from qualifying for the men's World Cup- and joins the Football Associations of Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Montenegro and Malta as respondents in the appeal. This is a reference to those countries' associations refusing to play against Russia, including possible qualifying matches in the last stages of the 2022 World Cup qualifying.

The UEFA appeal relates to suspending Russian teams- including club teams from tournaments like the Champions and Europa Leagues and the women's national team from the Euros- and FUR joined footballing governing bodies of Greece, Belarus, Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria, Malta, Portugal, England and France as respondents.

In addition to seeking both appealed decisions be set aside and FUR teams reinstated to all international competitions, the FUR has also requested CAS stay each appealed decision pending the arbitration.

A stay of the appealed decisions, essentially pausing international competitions, would have enormous ramifications for world football, and CAS said they would seek "the position of the respondent parties with respect to the FUR's requests to stay the execution of the Challenged Decisions."

According to the CAS Code of Sports-related Arbitration rules, the President of the Division shall "decide promptly on any application for a stay for interim measures" upon receipt of such a request by a party.

CAS said they expect to issue a media release "in a few days' time" with respect to a decision of the stay request.

CAS Media Release (8 March 2022)

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