By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Russia have stepped up their legal battle against FIFA and UEFA by submitting an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) against their bans from international competitions over the country’s invasion of Ukraine, in a fast-track legal process.
Last week the Russian Football Union (RFU) said they would file one lawsuit against the two governing bodies to demand that Russian men’s and women’s national teams be allowed to compete, including in qualifying for this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
And on Tuesday afternoon, CAS confirmed that they have received this appeal as legal proceedings took a step further.
Russian national and club teams were expelled from international competitions on February 28 ‘until further notice’ following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. FIFA and UEFA did not specify their legal reasons.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said it hoped to give urgent interim verdicts on the appeals within days.
Russia’s men’s national team was scheduled to play Poland on March 24 in a World Cup qualifying play-off. Poland have refused to play Russia in the match which was originally to be in Moscow.
The winner of that match would have played the winner of the game between Sweden and the Czech Republic on March 29 with a place at the World Cup in Qatar at stake. Those two federations also have refused to play against the Russians.
CAS said the Russian appeals against FIFA and UEFA also involve the Polish, Swedish and Czech football federations, plus several other national federations in Europe.
The FUR is asking the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a stay of execution for the suspensions, to allow Russia to play in a 2022 World Cup playoff against Poland that was due to have been played on March 24.
CAS said in a statement it had initiated two separate arbitration procedures targeting Fifa and Uefa respectively, as well as 15 national federations which have refused to play against the Russians.
The court said it would give further information on the proceedings in the next few days once it had made a decision on the requests for a stay of execution of each decision the Russians are challenging.