The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld UEFA's decision to suspend Russian football clubs from participating in competitions held under the auspices of the union.
This decision was taken by UEFA on 28 February 2022, after Russia started its military invasion of Ukraine. In May last year, four Russian Premier League clubs - CSKA, Dynamo, Zenit and Sochi - asked the court to overturn the UEFA decision as discriminatory. However, the court refused.
The reasoning of the court's decision, published on Friday, stated that UEFA had not breached the principle of political neutrality and its refusal to allow Russian clubs to participate cannot be considered discriminatory or disproportionate.
The Russian clubs pointed to the fact that some other sports associations - such as the Professional Tennis Association and the Women's Tennis Association - had not banned Russian athletes from taking part in their competitions. However, according to the court, football is a particular sport in which fans are particularly likely to overreact and allow incidents "based on racism, nationalism and religious intolerance". The court considered that allowing Russian football teams to compete could have a negative impact on the safety of athletes and spectators.
