Famous football lawyer Yuriy Yurchenko reacted to UEFA President Aleksandr Cheferin's statement that Ukraine and Israel's entry into Euro 2024 could create problems.
Yuriy Yurchenko (photo: facebook.com)- "These words make me feel disrespectful to fair-play in the form of a hint/signal to the referees as to what result it should give. The referees want to referee Euro matches. The aggressor country was prevented from making direct decisions because of the war, and this is to be welcomed!
On the other hand, now they will try to prevent Ukraine from participating in the Euros. Because objectively, UEFA will be calmer in Germany without Ukraine and Israel. However, this suggests that the comfort of European officials prevails over the principles that the strongest, not the most comfortable, should win. The principles of the IOC and UEFA are slipping...
Otherwise, why would you voice this? It is your responsibility, together with the host country, to ensure security for the strongest national teams. And citizens of the aggressor countries should not be allowed to attend competitions/stadiums at all, which is what we are asking for in our appeal to CAS against the IOC decision of 07.12.2023 regarding neutral athletes. We are asking, among other things, for an outright ban on passport holders of aggressor countries to be banned from attending the Olympics and international competitions as a punishment for the war and as a security measure.
If UEFA has banned an aggressor country from competing because of the war on the grounds of security, then UEFA should consistently ban their citizens from competing in the future, at least for security reasons as well. This is if Cheferin is really concerned about security, and not, like the IOC, about the desire to allow their citizens to compete and attend stadiums... The war is not over, so the next punishment should be for all their citizens, not for the Ukrainian national team!" the lawyer said.
