Russian football clubs and national teams have been suspended from all competitions by FIFA and UEFA after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The world and European football governing bodies said they would be banned “until further notice”.
It means the Russian men’s team will not play their World Cup play-off matches next month and the women’s team have been banned from this summer’s Euro 2022 competition.
Spartak Moscow have also been kicked out of the Europa League and their last-16 opponents RB Leipzig will advance to the quarter-finals.
UEFA has also ended its sponsorship with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” FIFA and UEFA said in a joint statement.
“Both presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”
The Russian men’s team had been scheduled to face Poland in a World Cup play-off semi-final on March 24.
Russian football’s governing body, the RFU, said it “categorically disagreed” with the decision and would challenge it “in accordance with international sports law”. Spartak Moscow called the decision “upsetting”.
FIFA had previously ruled that Russia must complete their upcoming games in neutral territory, under the title Football Union of Russia, and without their flag and anthem.
However, that announcement had drawn criticism - and Scotland and the Republic of Ireland joined several other nations, including England, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden, in refusing to play against Russia.
On Monday, Scottish FA president Rod Petrie wrote to his Ukrainian counterpart “to send a message of support, friendship and unity”, with those two nations due to meet in their World Cup play-off semi-final on March 24.
The 2022 Champions League final, originally due to be played in St. Petersburg on May 28, has been moved to Paris while numerous clubs have taken their own steps to disassociate themselves from Russia.
Manchester United has terminated its sponsorship deal with Russia’s national airline Aeroflot while Bundesliga club Schalke has cancelled its partnership with main sponsor Gazprom, having last week removed the Russian energy company’s logo.
This is the strongest move yet taken by the international football community.
Russia is rapidly being reduced to the status of international sporting pariah. Of course this comes after FIFA was accused of not going far enough on Sunday instead allowing Russia to continue playing as ‘RFU’ with a ban on its flag and anthem.
The IOC heaped pressure on football by recommending that all sports enforce a total ban on Russia and Belarus.
The IOC says it is urging sport governing bodies to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes “in order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants”, adding that “the current war in Ukraine puts the Olympic Movement in a dilemma”.
“While athletes from Russia and Belarus would be able to continue to participate in sports events, many athletes from Ukraine are prevented from doing so because of the attack on their country,” an IOC statement read.
The IOC said in their recommendations that wherever it was not possible to ban them from competing for organisational or legal reasons, such athletes should not compete under the name Russia or Belarus and should be classed as neutrals.
The Russian Olympic Committee has disagreed with the IOC, saying the decision “contradicts both the regulatory documents of the IOC and the [Olympic] Charter”.
The Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix, due to take place on September 26 in Sochi, was cancelled last week.World Rugby has suspended Russia and Belarus from international and cross-border competition “until further notice”.
“We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” said chairman Bill Beaumont.
On Friday, it was announced by Rugby Europe that all fixtures on Russian soil would be suspended, a move endorsed by the world governing body.
However the Russian women’s team played away in Spain on Saturday in the Rugby Europe Championship (REC), without their flag or national anthem
The Ukrainian Tennis Federation has called on the sport’s governing body, the International Tennis Federation (ITF), to expel Russia and Belarus from the organisation and ban Russia from individual and team tournaments.
Ukrainian Elina Svitolina has said she will refuse to play Russian or Belarusian players until they are classed as ‘neutral athletes’.
Russian Daniil Medvedev, who became the ATP’s world number one on Monday, said he wanted to promote “peace all over the world” in a news conference last week during the Mexican Open.
The ITF said: “This is a fast-evolving situation; we are in active discussion with the ITF tennis family and the ITF board to decide and align around our next course of action.”