Russian clubs and national teams have been suspended from all competitions by football’s world governing body FIFA and Europe’s governing body UEFA.
The move comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials are banned from any organised international competitions.
With this decision, the Russian men’s team will not play their World Cup play-off matches next month and the women’s team have been banned from this summer’s European Championship.
Spartak Moscow have also been kicked out of the Europa League, while Uefa has ended its sponsorship with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” FIFA and UEFA said in a joint statement.
“Both presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”
The decision by FIFA and UEFA was because of the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine by Russia who are supported by Belarus last Thursday.
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