Russia will not play the Women’s Euro 2022 football tournament, scheduled for July 6-31 in England, and will be replaced by Portugal, UEFA announced. This decision, taken Monday by the Executive Committee of the continental body, is the consequence of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Portugal had lost to Russia in the play-offs and completes Group C, which already included the Netherlands, defending champions, Sweden and Switzerland.
Russia has also been excluded from qualifying for the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Therefore, Group E will continue with five teams (Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Malta and Azerbaijan).
In the men’s category, Russia will not participate in the Nations League Group 2B matches and will automatically be placed fourth. It will therefore finish in sixteenth and last place in League B and will be relegated to League C.
Russia will not place any club, ladies and gents alike, on the European stage next season. Indeed, no Russian formation will be able to play in the Champions League, the Europa League and the Conference League.
This decision deprives Zénith Saint-Petersburg, crowned champion of Russia 2022, of its direct ticket for the group stage of the next C1.
Consequently, the access lists have been rebalanced, with no impact for the Belgian clubs, and Russia will be allocated a number of coefficient points equivalent to the lowest number of points obtained over the last five seasons, i.e. 4333 points for for the men’s club association coefficient, and 1750 points for the women’s club association coefficient for the 2022/23 season.
The UEFA Executive Committee also considered that the bid submitted by the Russian Football Union (RFS) to organize either Euro 2028 or Euro 2032 was inadmissible.