”The situation is serious, and we are stuck in Kiev.” While Júnior Moraes, a Brazilian naturalized Ukrainian and forward for Shakhtar Donetsk, posted the message on his social network, bombings hit several parts of Ukraine. The national football championship had just been suspended. Athletes were sheltering in a hotel in the capital.
Politics and sport mix again and as always. This time after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded the neighboring country and started a senseless war. As world leaders announce sanctions on Russia, sport, for the most part, is also playing hardball.
There’s been a flurry of ads in the last few hours. Uefa took the lead with the right decision to withdraw the Champions League final from St Petersburg, scheduled for May 28. “There’s no way there will be a football competition in a Russia that invades sovereign countries,” shouted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. England still have four clubs in the Champions League – Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City – and the chance of one of them making the decision is great.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan offered the English capital as a host and said that giving Russia such an opportunity would send the wrong message to the world. Uefa decided on Paris. The exchange will not be a problem. In the last two years, the venue of the final has changed at the last minute because of Covid-19. The image loss would be infinitely greater. In addition, fans will be able to travel to France safely.
Formula 1 has announced that it is not possible to hold the Sochi GP in September “under the current circumstances” (the paddock speaks of cancellation, although the official statement does not have that word). The International Ski Federation pulled events for the remainder of the season from Russia. Football federations from Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic have sent a joint statement to FIFA saying they will not travel to Russia in March for the European qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup.
If traveling there is dangerous, having the image associated with the country is extremely undesirable. Manchester United has ended the commercial agreement with the airline Aeroflot. The Schalke 04 took the name of the energy company Gazprom from the uniform.
The war makes life more difficult for Brazilian players who live in Ukraine, a country seen as a gateway to major European leagues. Since 2014, when Putin annexed Crimea, Shakhtar can no longer play in Donetsk. Júnior Moraes’ message is a sad portrait of the risky situation in which they find themselves.
Who is Ukrainian and is far from home has positioned himself. City full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko and tennis player Elina Svitolina posted messages on social media asking for unity and showing pride in the country.
In politics or sport, Putin ignores appeals and does as he pleases. Isn’t the long list of controversies enough? The fact that the country is serving a two-year suspension because of the gruesome government-coordinated doping scheme at the Sochi Winter Olympics? Not being able to compete in the Olympic Games under your own flag or hear your own anthem? Exposing a 15-year-old figure skater, Kamila Valieva, in the most recent case of banned substance use?
Of course, we cannot generalize and the criticism is not of the country as a whole. But, amid the sad scenes of war, its effects on the world and, consequently, on sport, how not to think: the Russians, again.
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