"We are not enemies, life must go on." UEFA defends Russia

Alexander Čeferin, President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), is looking forward to the return of Russia's youth national teams to international tournaments. Last September, UEFA announced the inclusion of Russian national teams in the qualifying tournaments for the European Youth Championships. After that, 12 associations at once announced a boycott of teams from Russia, forcing UEFA to reverse its decision.

"Why was it not possible to return the U-17s to Russia? That's a good question. First, these children do not participate in elections, they do not support any government because they are minors. But more importantly, they are now undoubtedly being brought up in a spirit of hatred and fear of children from other parts of Europe. At the moment when a Russian child, say, would come to Slovenia and be warmly received by a Slovenian child, he would realize that we are not enemies and that life must go on," the UEFA head said in an interview with delo.si.

According to Cheferin, his initiative was fiercely attacked by representatives of mainstream politics, especially those on the left.

"One of the presidents of national federations was even forced to resign. The media started attacking UEFA, and everyone backed down, saying: "We would support this idea, but the governments won't allow it." In essence, children were simply not given the opportunity to communicate. Politics, while hiding behind nice words, actually breeds hatred and intolerance. Those who speak out loudest against racism are the main racists themselves. Those who are the loudest about the inadmissibility of discrimination, but do not allow anyone to express a different point of view, actually harm the most discriminated against," the Slovene summarized.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, representatives of Greece initiated the issue of returning Russian youth teams to UEFA tournaments. The president of the Ukrainian Football Association Andriy Shevchenko reacted harshly to this.

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