The exclusion of Russian football becomes permanent: UEFA struck hard on Monday by excluding Russian clubs from its European competitions next season, including the lucrative Champions League, perpetuating the banishment of Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. Already excluded at the end of February from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (November 21-December 18) and suspended from all international competitions “until further notice”.
In a lengthy statement, UEFA listed the measures taken by its executive committee against Russia, applying the ban to all its competitions, from men’s, women’s and youth club events to selection football. “No Russian club will participate in the 2022-2023 season of UEFA club competitions” whose main qualifying rounds start in July, namely the Champions League, the Europa League, the Europa League Conference or the League of women’s champions, wrote UEFA.
In the Champions League, the Scottish champion will inherit the Russian place
From a French point of view, the exclusion of the Russians changes absolutely nothing. Regarding the Champions League, it is the Scottish champion who will inherit the Russian place and will be directly qualified for the group stage. By a domino effect, Trabzonspor, the Turkish champion will only have one more round to pass to join the pools while the Croatian and Swiss champions will be directly qualified for the second qualifying round.
Regarding the Europa League, it is the future winner of the Serbian Cup who will go from the second round of qualifying for the Europa League Conference to the third in the Europa League.