After initially announcing the transfer of Sbornaïa's matches to neutral ground, FIFA finally decided on Monday (28/2) to exclude Russia, which was to participate in the World Cup play-offs in March, first participating in a semi-final. against Poland and then, if he qualified, would play with the winner of the Sweden-Czech Republic pair.

In fact, the Russian national team and all Russian clubs are excluded from all FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice.

"FIFA and UEFA have jointly decided today that all Russian teams, whether national teams or club teams, will be suspended from both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice," UEFA said in a statement.

"These decisions were approved today by the presidency of the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, respectively the supreme decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters."

The only way for Russia to appear in the World Cup play-offs would be a sudden improvement in the situation in Ukraine, which would lead to the lifting of the suspension.

"Both presidents (of the football institutions) hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and quickly, so that football can once again be a source of unity and peace between people," UEFA said.

The European Confederation has said that a further decision will be made at a later date on the impact of the Euro 2022 Women's tournament in England in July, where Russia has qualified.

The decision means that Spartak Moscow will not play its match in the UEFA Europa League against Leipzig and the German team will qualify for the quarterfinals without matches.

Earlier Monday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive council recommended that sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from competing in competitions.

FIFA was criticized on Sunday after the statement that Russia could continue to play matches even in neutral venues and only under the name "Football Union of Russia".

Although the World Federation had warned that the country could be excluded from the tournament if the situation in Ukraine did not improve, the statement was widely criticized, with the Polish federation declaring its stance "completely unacceptable".

This was followed by the English Football Association, which said it would not play against Russia, a view supported by many European federations.

Russia hosted the last World Cup in 2018, with the final taking place in Moscow in the presence of President Vladimir Putin. The Russians call their actions in Ukraine a "special operation", claiming that it was not designed to seize territory but to destroy the military capabilities of its southern neighbor and arrest those it considers dangerous nationalists.