Effects of Russian Invasion

Referees for UEFA or FIFA assignments are not 'sent' by their national association. They are assigned by UEFA or FIFA, depending on whose game it is. Cf. CONCACAF Gold Cup games are assigned by CONCACAF, not the host country, much less the referee's country.

 

I watched Karasev referee Napoli vs Barcelona today. I wonder how many more international matches he’ll have this year.

 

That is what UEFA has decided, at least for now.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/17768018/spartak-moscow-banned-europa-league-russia/

 

You were expecting full disqualification and full bans from Russian teams?

Money talks and always has.

Russia spit in the face of the integrity of the Olympics with doping and couldn't get their athletes banned (they just got their flag banned).

What makes you think an invasion of another sovereign country would prompt a ban?

If it's some country that doesn't really matter, then, yeah, they are dropping the hammer on them sporting wise.

If Serbia decides to invade Kosovo tomorrow to try and regain it back, Partizan Red Star Belgrade are kicked out of Europe as fast as you can say Ukraine.

This isn't little ol' Yugoslavia where you can kick them out of Euro 1992 and ban them from qualifying for the World Cup in '94 for engaging in a war of aggression on their own territory.

 

I think it's a moot point, to be honest.

There won't be any international games in either Russia or Ukraine until this is resolved, so no Referee will have to "refuse to go" as there will be nothing to refuse.

The only question you may have is whether some Referee may choose to decline an appointment to a match involving a Russian team (on neutral territory, of course), but I think that would be unlikely.

As for the Scotland v Ukraine game that MassRef mentioned (why would that need a "bigger name", btw?), I am hearing that within UEFA there are real doubts as to whether that will go ahead -the Ukrainian League has been suspended indefinitely, so as things stand they would have to play that vital WC Play-Off with more than half of their squad not having played for over a month. That would not be good.

 

Actually, I just realised - the Ukrainian League was due to finish their regular 1-month winter shutdown this weekend, so in fact by the time that Play-Off comes around it will be over two months since most of their squad has played.

 

Personally, I would prefer that UEFA and FIFA suspended the Russian FA and all their clubs until this was resolved. I think that would be the "right" thing to do, but I don't think they have the courage to do so.

But, if we assume that their games will go ahead on neutral territory, I don't see where a Referee appointed to that game would have a "safety decision" to make. He may not want to do it from a "moral" standpoint - and I would certainly understand that - but I don't think he would think he was in any "danger" by doing it. Why would he be?

I believe that most of the guys who are in line to do these games feel pretty much the same as most of us - they are disgusted at the behaviour of Putin and would prefer to see their teams excluded for now - but I don't think many of them would decline an appointment if it was offered to them.

 

I will add the observation that the CAF championship this year was held in a country that had a civil war going on! And I don't recall that there was any "cup truce' called.

 

Poland has announced that they will not play against Russia.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60536030

 

Unfortunately, I'd imagine FIFA will cave and basically call this a forfeit. It sucks, but the boycott only will really help Russia get closer to the World Cup.

I'd love to think FIFA will finally grow a backbone on this, but if I did that I'd have to start looking for Bigfoot and Santa Claus on a more regular basis.

 

I think, for once, FIFA are going to "do the right thing" and expel Russia, though more because their hand has been forced.

From what we are hearing, it is highly likely that Sweden and the Czechs - who are in the same bracket as Russia and Poland - will shortly also formally announce a refusal to play Russia. If that happens, I can't see how FIFA could do anything other than kick Russia out as otherwise they would have to throw Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic all out. In truth, I expect a number of UEFA National Associations to follow Poland's lead very soon.

I do not like "politics" and soccer mixing, but in this instance I think Robert Lewandowski, captain of Poland, and one of the most respected figures in the game today, has put it better than anyone else I have heard: "Russian footballers and fans are not responsible for this, but we can't pretend that nothing is happening".

Well done, Poland!

 

I sincerely hope you are right. However, FIFA had years and pretty substantial evidence of the atrocities for Qatar in plenty of time to move the 2022 World Cup, and we all see how that went.

I admit it-I’m incredibly cynical when it comes to FIFA and the International Olympic Committee when it comes to doing the right thing. I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

I share your cynicism, and yet I still retain a spark of optimisim that this time FIFA will do what football expects.

 

I am equally cynical about FIFA and their motivations, but there is one critical difference here, and that is their hand being very firmly forced by Poland.

FIFA's reaction was what we would expect of them - coming up with the "soft option" of making Russian teams play on neutral grounds - and by doing so, they kept the Russian FA and Sponsors "on side" while protecting their own interests But, the actions of Poland are going to force them down the path that they didn't want to take - that of having to expel Russia.

To be clear, what options do they have if Poland stick by their stance, which I firmly believe they will? Frankly, they only have two options - the first is to expel Russia, and the tournament continues as planned; or, they view the Polish position as "forfeiting" the match, and award it to Russia. There is no third option, unless they somehow "stall" hoping for a swift, peaceful resolution which seems hardly likely.

Now, I am sorry, and I know this might be viewed differently Stateside, but I can assure you, that expulsion of Poland will not happen. There is NO WAY. Sorry, I don't like to be so "black and white", but heck, there is NO WAY that would be accepted. The vast majority (all?) of the other nations in UEFA would never accept FIFA throwing out a fellow member nation for the "crime" of supporting" a neighbour who has been the victim of an unprovoked attack.

Not a chance.

 

thoughts on the both team group photo from this morning, and on the
Thoughts on the both team group photo from this morning, and on the ref team moving out of the way. Would the ref team face repercussions if one/all of them had included themselves in the picture as well?

Cheers, Mi3ke

 

No.

 

i saw a photo on the BBC site showing French referees helping hold a support banner before the PSG-St Etienne game. So I agree wholeheartedly that referees would not be sanctioned for being a part of something like this. I would imagine it’s a purely personal choice.

 

Poor Russia.

If they had even a single superstar player that the football world would miss at the world cup, guaranteed that football fans would be seeing this much differently.