ISSUE OF THE WEEK 5 : Should Belarus Play in the 2024 Euros?
ISSUE 5 – SHOULD BELARUS PLAY IN THE 2024 EUROS?
INTRODUCTION
The matter of whether Belarus should be playing in the qualifiers for the Euro 2024 football competition has continued to cause controversy, as some politicians believe it should be prevented from taking part because of their role in the war in Ukraine. Although the country has been prevented from hosting international games, UEFA has stated that it doesn’t currently expect to take further action to stop them playing in the football tournament and its qualifiers being held in Germany in June 2024. Russia have been prevented from taking part, with UEFA having expelled their football teams from all international competitions that they organise, following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Currently, Belarus are playing in Group I of the qualifying round for Euro 2024, with other teams in their group including Switzerland, Israel, Romania, Kosovo, Belarus and Andorra. The top two teams in the group will qualify for the main part of the tournament in June 2024, with the first qualifying match for Belarus taking place against Switzerland behind closed doors in Serbia on 25 March 2023. UEFA hope that the inclusion of the Belarus team will be helpful to raise awareness of the issues by forcing them to play behind closed doors, whilst also allowing the country’s professional football players a chance to play for their national team.
TIMELINE
On 24 February 2022, Russia launched an invasion on Ukraine with some of their troops entering the country via Belarus. Given this escalation, UEFA met and on 3 March 2022 they issued a statement about Belarus, stating:
“The UEFA Executive Committee met today and decided that all Belarusian clubs and national teams competing in UEFA competitions will be required to play their home matches at neutral venues with immediate effect. Furthermore, no spectators shall attend matches in which the teams from Belarus feature as host”.
UEFA went further with Russia and suspended them from all international tournaments and matches, issuing a press release saying:
“All Russian teams are currently suspended following the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee of 28 February 2022 which has further been confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 15 July 2022”.
It has been suggested that Russia could instead move to join the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) and in March 2023 the Tajikistan Football Federation formally invited the country to join CAFA’s inaugural men’s tournament being held from 9 to 21 June 2023. Russia indicated that they were interested in the proposals, but final details have yet to be confirmed.
Nigel Huddleston, responding to a Parliamentary question asked by Matt Vickers in March 2022 on whether Russia and Belarus should be taking part in international sports events, said:
“Following the international summit, a joint statement was signed by 37 nations and published on Tuesday 8 March, affirming the position outlined below: Russia and Belarus should not be permitted to host, bid for or be awarded any international sporting events. Individual athletes selected by Russia and Belarus, administrators and teams representing the Russian or Belarusian state should be banned from competing in other countries, including those representing bodies, cities or brands that are effectively representing Russia or Belarus, such as major football clubs”.
In September 2022, Nancy Faeser, the German Minister of the Interior wrote to Aleksander Čeferin, the UEFA President, asking for Belarus to be removed from taking part in the qualifications for the tournament. She commented that “not only Russia, which is waging a war of aggression in violation of international law, but also Belarus as an essential supporter of the Russian leadership should be excluded from all international football matches and tournaments”.
Lord Foulkes wrote to Aleksander Čeferin in February 2023 noting that UEFA’s proposed ban didn’t go far enough noting that Russia had been excluded from the competition and “Belarus served as a base for Russia’s initial invasion of northern Ukraine last February”. UEFA have made limited formal responses to these requests, but have stated that the situation remains under review. A spokesperson for Lord Foulkes said that his letter was acknowledged by UEFA, but that he didn’t receive a reply.
In March 2023, a letter was sent to UEFA signed by over 100 MEPS from the European Parliament which mentioned “the very fact of participating in UEFA Championship by the Belarusian national team will be later used by Lukashenko and his propaganda team to prove he is well-received in the international community”.
On 15 March 2023, 30 Swiss Parliamentarians wrote to Aleksander Čeferin mentioning:
“This choice of UEFA is in contradiction with the decision of the International Olympic Committee. The IOC has excluded both Russia and Belarus from the 2024 Olympic Games following the war of aggression against Ukraine. This decision therefore takes into account the fact that Belarus is an accomplice of Russia, because it provides Russia with a deployment area and bases for its attacks against neighbouring Ukraine. We support this clear position of the IOC and ask you to follow this example and to also exclude Belarus from all competitions by UEFA”.
We contacted UEFA but they refused to comment.
The debate continues about whether sport allows people to come together, or whether a country’s actions are so serious that it would be wrong for their national football team to take part in international tournaments.
RESOURCES
PRESS RELEASE : Belarus teams to play on neutral ground in UEFA competitions [March 2022]
George Foulkes – 2023 Letter to UEFA (Lord Foulkes of Cumnock)
Nancy Faeser – 2023 Letter Asking for Belarus to Be Removed from 2024 Euros
Swiss Parliamentarians – 2023 Letter Asking for Belarus to be Removed from 2024 Euros
EXTERNAL LINKS
Football Federation of Belarus
Council of Europe – Football governance: business and values report
Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights
