Russia fails to get football ban for Ukraine war overturned after launching legal cases against Fifa and Uefa

RUSSIA has failed in its bid to get the country’s football ban overturned.

The Football Union of Russia and four leading clubs launched legal cases against Fifa and Uefa over the bans imposed following the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia was booted out of the scheduled World Cup play-off with Poland.

The nation was also banned from competing at this month’s Women’s European Championship.

Uefa also ruled that clubs from the country could not take part in European competitions.

That means Russian giants are banned from the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.

And now a series of pleas to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has failed, with judges backing the governing bodies.

It means Zenit St Petersburg, Sochi, Dynamo Moscow and CSKA Moscow remain banned from the three major European competitions.

CAS ruled: “In all of these cases, the panel determined that the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine created  unforeseen and unprecedented circumstances to which Fifa and Uefa had to respond.

“Both parties acted within the scope of the discretion granted to them under their statutes and regulations.

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“It is unfortunate that the current military operations in Ukraine had such an adverse effect on the Russian teams, clubs and players.

“But these effects were offset by the need for the secure and orderly conduct of football events for the rest of the world.”

In March, shock reports claimed Russia could look to switch from European to Asian football.