UEFA, Europe’s governing body of football, has abandoned its plan to admit Russia’s under-17 team into qualifiers later this month for the European championship to be held next year.

In September 2022, the Union of European Football Associations suspended all Russian national teams from competing in European competitions, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Then last month, UEFA decided to allow Russian youth teams back into competitions without their colors or flag being presented or anthem being played, saying that children should not be punished for the actions of adults.

Many football federations were angered by this decision, including the Ukrainian football federation, which was joined by at least 11 other federations out of the 55 UEFA members, stating they would boycott all competitions involving a Russian team.

The reversal decision was made at a meeting Tuesday that was attended by UEFA Senior Vice President Karl-Erik Nilsson, who lost his job as the head of the Sweden sports confederation days ago for backing UEFA’s pro-Russian move. Nilsson faced pressure from his home federation, which opposed the inclusion of Russian teams.

UEFA has awarded hosting rights to its 2028 European championship to the United Kingdom and Ireland, both of which had their football federations threaten boycotts of games against Russian sides.

UEFA also appointed Turkey and Italy as the host countries of the 2032 European championships, each of which had supported allowing the Russian youth to compete.

Aleksandr Dyukov, the Russian delegate on the UEFA executive committee, did not attend the meeting. The Russian football union has made no immediate comments.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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