Russia tells 'harsh truth of life' about return to European football

Russian clubs and national teams will not return to European football until the end of Russia's criminal war against Ukraine. The aggressor country calls this "political pressure" on the federations, whose teams simply refuse to play with representatives of the terrorist state.

The president of the Russian Premier League ( RPL ), Aleksander Alaev, expressed his confidence in this in an interview with the RB Sport portal, commenting on the statement of the head of the European Football Union (UEFA), Aleksander Čeferin. The Russian official recalled how Valery Karpin's team was boycotted in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

"I'm sure that as long as the war against Ukraine is going on (as Russia shamefully calls the war against Ukraine - ed.), we will not play in European football. This is the harsh truth of life. Having some experience and understanding of the processes from the inside, I don't see any options for us to start playing with European teams as long as the war is on. Political pressure. We all remember the story of the 2022 World Cup butt matches, the friendly with Bosnia. I don't see how this can change. At the same time, I would like to be wrong," Alaev said.

Earlier, honorary president of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Koloskov reacted doom and gloom to Čeferin's statement about the return of teams from Russia to international tournaments. As a reminder, Russian clubs have been suspended from the Champions League, UEFA League, and Conference League, and the national team from the qualifying tournament for the 2024 European Championship and the League of Nations.

At the same time, UEFA has returned Russian representatives to its competitions by appointing a team of referees from Russia to the Women's Nations League game.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Russian coach Valeri Ovchinnikov threatened UEFA with the words "the task was set for the Russian army" after the announcement of the return.

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