“For security reasons”: UEFA will breed teams from Russia and Kosovo at the draw of international tournaments

Teams from Russia and Kosovo will be unable to meet each other in the group stages of national and club tournaments under the auspices of UEFA. The corresponding decision was made at a meeting of the emergency commission of the Union of European Football Associations.

“Taking into account all the security risks associated with holding matches between clubs from Russia and Kosovo, the commission decided that representatives of these national championships will be divorced in future UEFA competitions until further notice,” the organization said in an official statement.

This season, not one of the Russian clubs is in the same group as the teams from Kosovo, so first representatives of national teams will have to apply new restrictions. In particular, the players of the Russian women’s national team will have to play two matches with Kosovars as part of the qualification tournament of the European Championship 2021.

As part of the selection, the teams had to hold two meetings, the first of which was to be held in October at the stadium in Pristina. But later, UEFA decided to postpone the matches indefinitely “for security reasons”.

“The Extraordinary Commission decided that both matches of the teams of Kosovo and Russia, originally scheduled for October 4, 2019 and June 9, 2020, will be organized in neutral fields,” the UEFA press service said.

In addition, in the near future, the Union of European Football Associations will have to resolve the issue of holding matches between the men's teams of Russia and Kosovo. So, on November 13, youth teams under the age of 19 will have to meet as part of the first qualifying round of Euro 2020. At the same time, it is indicated on the RFU website that this confrontation will take place at the Cardiff International Sports Center. that is, in neutral territory. Thus, it is likely that no changes will be made.

In the football community, this information was perceived ambiguously. So, the honorary president of the RFU, Vyacheslav Koloskov, not only supported this UEFA verdict, but also admitted that the Russian side was the initiator in this matter.

“Throughout the year, he said that this should be done. What is the point of creating problems when you can absolutely legally and reasonably separate teams from Russia and Kosovo, as Serbia, for example, did. There are no conflicts, ”said Koloskov RT.

The official did not rule out that the RFU could play it safe a bit in this matter, but noted that this innovation could prevent the creation of conflict situations outside the stadium.

“They might not have been here, but there are no diplomatic relations between the countries. Imagine that during a guest match our fans commit any illegal actions and are arrested. What's next? Therefore, representatives of the RFU did the right thing, constantly mentioning this problem, and provided ever new arguments for making such a decision. Apparently, the arguments were arranged by UEFA, and the Union made the absolutely right decision, ”Koloskov said.

The Honorary President of the RFU confirmed that UEFA has for several months raised this issue for consideration at executive committee meetings and was able to draw attention to the problem. With regard to the abolition of this restriction, then, according to Koloskov, this requires progress in the political sphere.

“There should be a 100% guarantee that there will be no incidents. But nobody will give it now. First, there must be some political decision, ”concluded the ex-head of the RFU.

Agreed with the position of Koloskov and the former head coach of Torpedo and Wings of the Soviets, Alexander Tarkhanov. According to him, in the UEFA decision "there is nothing to worry about."

“We will not play in the group ... In any case, if it comes to the playoff stage, then nothing will stop the teams from meeting each other. UEFA is wary of possible conflicts, so we decided to make sure that no matter what happens. But politics should not interfere in sports, although football is the most popular form, there are many fans, and everything can happen: skirmishes, clashes, some provocations, ”RIA Novosti quotes Tarhanova.

Unlike the above experts, a member of the RFU Ethics Committee Andrei Sozin has a different opinion. So, the official criticized the UEFA decision and admitted that he did not understand his logic.

“I do not know why this is happening. I also understand roughly why teams from Russia and Ukraine are bred, but I don’t understand this decision. I do not like it when politics interferes in sports. If you think that the lack of relations between countries is a worthy reason to breed them at the draw, then I do not support this. It’s necessary not to refuse to play with teams from Kosovo, but to solve these diplomatic issues, ”Sozin RT said.

However, he could not confirm that the RFU was the initiator in introducing this restriction, and said that he did not see any reason for the breeding of teams from Russia and Kosovo.

“I know Russian fans very well. None of them will go to prove anything to the Kosovars. I do not think that there can be any negative between the representatives of the two states. Yes, Ukraine has a difficult relationship, this is possible here. As for Kosovo, I consider this a made-up story, ”Sozin concluded.