The Russian national football team can only play at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, should they qualify, as a neutral team following the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)'s decision to ban Russian athletes from participating in world championship events for four years, WADA announced at a press conference on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2019) The Russian national football team can only play at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, should they qualify, as a neutral team following the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)'s decision to ban Russian athletes from participating in world championship events for four years, WADA announced at a press conference on Monday."If they qualify, then a team representing Russia cannot participate, but if there is a mechanism put in place, they can apply to participate on a neutral basis, not as representatives of Russia. That is going to have to be done on a case by case basis," WADA Compliance Review Committee chair, Jonathan Taylor, told reporters.
The committee chair outlined that because the FIFA World Cup was a competition that decides football's world champion, Russian footballers can only participate in the 2022 tournament in Qatar under a neutral flag.
"No Russian flag, not as representatives of Russia," Taylor told reporters.
When asked by reporters whether FIFA or WADA would enforce the ban, Taylor stressed that it would be a joint decision.
"FIFA has to implement it, in consultation with WADA," Taylor stated.
The committee chair also outlined that individual decisions regarding Russian athletes' participation in certain team sport events would be decided on a case-by-case basis, and that sporting bodies would have to be in communication with WADA, which retains to right to either control or approve any mechanism of allowing Russian athletes not implicated in doping to participate.
