Information about Russia in the European Football Championship is delayed

It is only three months until the European Championships start in England. Sweden is in the same group as, among others, Russia, the country that has been excluded from football due to the war in Ukraine. The English federation, which is hosting the European Championships, has also announced that none of its national teams will face Russia “in the foreseeable future”.

But how long Russia will be blocked, whether the country will be allowed to participate in the European Championships and which country would replace it if the exclusion remains, has not yet been decided.

On Tuesday announced The sports arbitration court Cas that Russia has withdrawn its appeal of the exclusion from the international federation Fifa’s matches. But the appeal of UEFA’s decision remains.

The reason why UEFA’s executive committee will not decide on Russia’s participation in the European Championships at Thursday’s meeting is that they have to wait for Cas’ ruling, which is expected to come at the end of April, writes Karl-Erik Nilsson, who is also vice chairman of Uefa, in a message to DN.

The announcement therefore seems to be delayed until the next meeting with the executive committee, which is on 10 May.

A likely new national team in Sweden’s group if Russia is excluded is Portugal, who lost to Russia in the playoffs for the championship.

Sweden’s national team captain Peter Gerhardsson thinks it is good that Russia has been shut down for the time being, sade he to DN the other day.

– For us, it’s more about knowing which opponent we get, but it does not feel like a hurry, said Gerhardsson whose national team otherwise meets the Netherlands and Switzerland in the European Championships.

– We have a good team so once we get to know who we will face, we will be able to scout that resistance well.

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