Russia banned from Euro 2024 over Ukraine invasion

Russia has been banned from Euro 2024 after UEFA confirmed the country would be excluded from qualifying.

The move comes after Russian teams were banned from international competitions back in February by FIFA following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The country appealed against the decision but it was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration back in July.

Putin’s country had been removed from World Cup qualifying for Qatar earlier this year.

They were scheduled to face Poland in the second stage of European qualifying for the competition.

The latest ruling means they will miss their second successful international tournament.

A UEFA statement said: “All Russian teams are currently suspended following the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee of 28 February 2022 which has further been confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 15 July 2022.

“Russia is therefore not included in the UEFA European Football Championship 2022-24 qualifying draw.”

Russia will also be ineligible from bidding to host the Euro 2028 or Euro 2032 tournaments.

Euro 2024 hosts Germany had requested Belarus be removed from the draw because of their military links to Russia.

However, the country will be included in the 53-nation draw, although it will not be able to placed in the same group as Ukraine for security reasons.

UEFA had prohibited Belarus from hosting games and ensured games on neutral grounds weren’t to be attended by fans. 

These aren’t the only restrictions to be placed on UEFA because of political decisions.

Longtime UEFA blocks include on games between teams from Azerbaijan and Armenia, Spain and Gibraltar, as well as Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina from facing Kosovo. 

The qualifying groups will be drawn on October 9 in Frankfurt, with all nations finding out their path to qualifying for the tournament. 

With Germany qualifying as host nation, 23 spots are remaining for the finals.

They will go to 10 group winners and runner-ups, plus a further three teams via a play-off competition featuring the 12 best-performing teams from the 2022-23 Nations League who hadn’t yet qualified.