On Tuesday, UEFA announced that it would allow junior teams from Russia to participate in the association’s own competitions again in the future. The Ukrainian Football Association reacted and announced a boycott.
If Russian junior teams participate in UEFA competitions, they will be boycotted by Ukrainian teams. This was announced by the Ukrainian Football Association UAF in a statement.
UEFA had announced that it would lift the exclusion of Russian national teams in youth football. From now on, Russian youth teams will be allowed to participate in international competitions again, children should “not be punished for actions for which only adults are responsible”, the federation justified the decision in view of the ongoing war of aggression in Ukraine.
Ukraine calls on UEFA member associations to join boycott
The UAF reacted by stating that they “strongly condemn” the recent UEFA decision. UAF insists on upholding the previous decisions of UEFA and FIFA regarding the exclusion of all Russian teams and will “not participate in any competitions involving Russian teams”. In addition, they appealed to other UEFA member associations to boycott possible matches involving Russian teams.
The new UEFA decision only applies to youth teams – the suspension of club and national teams at adult level remains in place. In addition, Russian youth teams are not allowed to play their international matches on Russian territory, national flags, anthems and jerseys are also banned.
