Court of Arbitration for Sport receives Russia’s appeals against their bans by FIFA and UEFA

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.

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 teams were expelled from competition 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 decide on the appeals in the coming 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. The winner of that fixture would have played the winner of the game between Sweden and the Czech Republic in the next round, but they 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.

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Russia Football Union have submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport against their bans imposed by FIFA and UEFA following the country’s invasion of Ukraine