In February 2022, Russia attacks Ukraine and brings the war to Europe. About 100 days later, Ukraine plays for participation in the World Cup in Qatar. Against Wales it sets a narrow defeat. They are now threatened with repercussions because of their jerseys – about which Russia is outraged.

The Russian Football Union RFU has lodged a complaint with FIFA against Ukraine’s jerseys. This is reported by the Internet portal “Inside The Games” with reference to the Russian news agency TASS. Ukraine had played 0:1 in the playoff for the World Cup in Wales with jerseys that showed a silhouette of the Eastern European country including Crimea. “The Russian Football Union has sent a protest to FIFA because the Ukrainian Football Union violated organizational rules by showing the image of Crimea as part of Ukraine on the national team’s jersey,” the RFU said in a statement published by Russia’s state news agency TASS.

Referring to a referendum held in Crimea in 2014, RFU honorary president said Russia would have no other choice, according to Inside The Games. “A protest is necessary, because after the referendum Crimea and Sevastopol are the territory of the Russian Federation, and if the territory of the Russian Federation is depicted on the equipment of another country, then accordingly we had to send such a protest,” said Koloskov, a former FIFA vice-president and honorary member of UEFA. Koloskov, speaking to TASS, also revealed the Russian view of Ukraine’s World Cup exit. The World Cup qualification of the Welsh, who will be at the tournament for the first time since 1958, was a “triumph of sporting principle,” he declared.

Jerseys already caused tension in 2021

The jerseys with the outlines of Ukraine had already caused tensions between the federations during the European Football Championship last summer. At the time, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry had spoken of a “desperate art action” by Ukraine and a Duma deputy had spoken out against the interference of sport in politics. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj, on the other hand, had explicitly welcomed the design. He said the jersey was “indeed different from all others. It knows how to shock. It has several important symbols that unite Ukrainians,” the president had written at the time under an Instagram post showing him wearing the jersey.

UEFA had largely approved Ukraine’s jersey despite Russian protests, demanding only one minor change. For example, the slogan “Honor our heroes” attached to the collar was deemed political and had to be removed from the jerseys. All other elements, such as the battle cry “Glory to Ukraine” and the silhouette of the country with the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea annexed by Russia and the regions in the Donbass already controlled by separatists at the time, were approved by the European Football Union.

FIFA neutral so far

UEFA and world governing body FIFA had excluded national and club teams from Russia from all competitions because of the war of aggression. The women’s national team was excluded from the European Championship in England from July 6 to 31. It will be replaced by Portugal. Russia had recently toyed with the idea of leaving UEFA and joining the Asian confederation. FIFA had excluded Russia, the host of the 2018 World Cup, from playoff matches for the Qatar World Cup under massive pressure from European federations with Poland leading the way, but had otherwise remained almost neutral on the war in Ukraine. At the FIFA Congress in Doha in early April, Russia had sent a delegation to the desert state, while the president of the Ukrainian federation had reported from Kiev in a bulletproof vest.

“We are not responsible for all evil in the world, and we cannot solve all problems. But we can give hope,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said at the congress, where the possibility of expelling the Russian federation from FIFA had not been discussed.