Russia teams suspended from international soccer
FIFA World Cup scheduled for November in Qatar
FIFA and UEFA have suspended Russia's national teams and clubs from international football until further notice due to the country's invasion of Ukraine.
The move makes it likely that Russia will be excluded from this year's World Cup and the women's Euro 2020 tournament.
"FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice," UEFA said in a statement.
"These decisions were adopted today by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, respectively the highest decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters," they added.
UEFA also ended its sponsorship with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Russia was scheduled to host Poland in a World Cup qualifying playoff on March 24 and if they remained suspended at that time, they would be out of the World Cup and unable to progress to the finals in Qatar in November.
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The suspension would cover all Russian national teams and could impact the country's women's team are due to play in UEFA's Euro 2022 competition in England in July.
Also Monday, UEFA confirmed the Europa League last-16 matches between Spartak Moscow and RB Leipzig have been called off. RB Leipzig were due to host Spartak Moscow in the first leg on March 10, with the second leg scheduled for March 17.
FIFA had been criticized on Sunday after a statement that Russia could continue to play matches albeit in neutral venues and only under the name 'Football Union of Russia'.
In a separate statement, Canada Soccer announced its teams would not compete against Russian teams at any level until Ukraine's "sovereignty and territorial integrity are restored.
"Of course, Canada has to support the Ukrainian population … We are 100 per cent in support of Ukraine," Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis said in an interview with Canadian Press. "We will not — and let me repeat — we will not compete at any level against Russia until all the integrity is restored in this conflict."
Russia hosted the last World Cup in 2018 with the final held in Moscow attended by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
