On the 72nd Congress of FIFA, which takes place in Doha (Qatar), the Russian association was not excluded. Instead, the Russian delegation was able to attend Secretary General Alexander Alajev as usual at the meeting. The Russian flag was also kept. Under agenda item Four (“suspension or exclusion of a member association”) only the existing suspensions of the associations of Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Kenya were extended.

However, teams from Russia are excluded from all competitions of FIFA (as well as UEFA) due to the criminal crawl against Ukraine. Accordingly, the Russian selection was not allowed to participate in the World Cup play-offs.

Calling from Ukraine: “We do not want to hear air alarm, we want to catch catches”

Ukrainian delegates were only online for the FIFA Congress. “We do not want to hear an air alarm, we want to catch catches again. We want to rest full stages instead of bombed cities – these are our goals,” said Association President Andrij Pawelko in a well-recorded and previously recorded video message, which showed him with a fired vest. Pawelko, who is also a member of the UEFA Executive Committee, thanked for the popularity of all over the world: “Every gesture of compassion and support we carry in our hearts. That means us a lot.”

FIFA President Infantino had initially avoided in his opening speech to clearly relate to the invasion of Ukraine. Before the usual silhouettes, the 52-year-old asked the delegates only, “to think about their lives in the pandemic and in the military conflicts around the world”.

Infantino: World Cup in Russia was “a great success”

Later, he called politicians around the world to finish “conflicts and wars”. “For our children, for our future. Please, goes into dialogue – also with the worst enemy,” said Infantino. He believes “the power of football, bring together people and overcome cultural boundaries” – and then went to Russian invasion.

A Day To Remember at the FIFA Congress
The war in Ukraine leaves him “with a heavy heart”, said the Swiss and referred to his last European Championship as UEFA Secretary-General in 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. The 2018 World Cup in Russia, which he had already contributed as FIFA President, was “a great success”, “athletic as cultural,” said Infantino: “But obviously she did not solve the problems of the world, she does not even have the Problems solved in the region, brought out no permanent peace. ” He was not “so naive” to believe the football could solve all problems. But the FIFA wool her “small role” playing, bringing people together.