Ceferin says UEFA unchanged on Russia, though ‘world is changing fast’

February 13 – European football boss Aleksander Ceferin has reiterated that UEFA’s position on Russia has not changed.

In a short press conference following the 50th UEFA Congress in Brussels, the UEFA president largely refused to be drawn on the issue of Russia, banned from the international game following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but repeated that the European confederation’s position has not changed.

Last week in an interview with Sky News, FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested that Russian youth teams should be reintegrated. He said that FIFA “should never ban any country from playing football because of the acts of their political leaders.”

“I checked what [Infantino] said,” said Ceferin. “I think the story became too big. He said there is too much hatred. He said we’d look into it, of course we should look into everything. And he spoke about the youth, and how children should eventually play.”

Infantino’s comment provoked criticism from Ukrainian officials and the president of the Ukrainian FA Andriy Shevchenko.

“I can only say I don’t want to enter into dispute here,” said Ceferin. “I don’t think that if anybody says his or her opinion, he or she should be insulted by anybody.

“Uefa’s position is clear, it didn’t change, but we are looking into everything every day. The world is changing so fast that it is hard to follow. I cannot comment on what Fifa is doing or what any government says.”

In Ceferin’s speech to the Uefa Congress, he said: “Unity is never guaranteed. Only a few kilometres from here, in Waterloo, one chapter of European history ended and another began [in 1815].

“Europe learned early that stability is precious and fragile. And that trust takes time to build but very little time to lose.

“My friends, today, we do not need a long history lesson. We live in history. We feel the tensions and we see the polarisations. We share the sense that the world is falling apart. We meet at a moment when the global order feels more fragile than at any time in recent memory.”

Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1770996281labto1770996281ofdlr1770996281owedi1770996281sni@i1770996281tnuk.1770996281ardni1770996281mas1770996281