"Having girls and boys from Russia being able to play football games in other parts of Europe would help,"
"Gianni Infantino's words sound irresponsible -- not to say infantile. They detach football from the reality in which children are being killed. Let me remind you that since the start of Russia's full-scale aggression, more than 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed by Russians. Among them were more than 100 footballers. One example is Illia Perezhogin, a 10th-grade student at a Mariupol school, who was simply playing football at his school stadium when a Russian missile struck. Former futsal player Viktoriia Kotliarova was killed together with her mother during the shelling of Kyiv on Dec. 29, 2023. She was a Kyiv Student Futsal Cup champion and a winner of the Dynamo Student League tournament. War is a crime, not politics. It is Russia that politicises sport and uses it to justify aggression. I share the position of the Ukrainian Association of Football, which also warns against Russia's return to international competitions. As long as Russians continue killing Ukrainians and politicising sport, their flag and national symbols have no place among people who respect values such as justice, integrity, and fair play."
Gianni Infantino called for the ban on Russia competing to be lifted, saying it should "definitely" be lifted, "at least at youth level," and that the ban had "not achieved anything" and "created more frustration, and hatred." Infantino suggested youth matches could help by allowing Russian children to play in other parts of Europe. Ukraine's sports minister, Matvii Bidnyi, condemned those remarks as irresponsible and infantile, citing more than 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed since the invasion, including over 100 footballers and named victims. Bidnyi argued that Russia politicises sport and that Russian national symbols have no place while aggression continues. FIFA announced plans for a new U15 festival on Dec. 17.
Read at ESPN.com
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