The president of the Union of European Football Associations, Aleksander Čeferin, opposed the exclusion of Israeli teams from international competitions. This was reported by Euro-football.ru.
As the head of the organization, he acknowledged that the restrictions imposed on Russia due to military actions in Ukraine have been ineffective. According to Čeferin, Russian athletes have been banned from competitions for three and a half years, yet the war in Ukraine has not stopped.
For this reason, it was emphasized that sports and politics should be separate. After a former Palestinian footballer was killed in another attack on civilians by Israeli military forces in the Gaza Strip, some parties demanded that Israel be banned similarly to Russia.
However, representatives of the Russian Football Union stated that sports should be independent from politics and that instead of sanctions against Israel, the restrictions on Russia should be lifted. Overall, Čeferin stressed that limiting sports based on political decisions is wrong.
