Russia will not play in Under-17 European Championship qualifying matches this month due to a lack of a “technical solution,” UEFA has said.
UEFA had announced plans in September to allow Russia’s under-17 teams to participate in its competitions, and FIFA followed by confirming Russia would also be permitted to compete in the men’s and women’s under-17 World Cups.
Russia’s national teams and clubs had been banned from UEFA and FIFA competitions since the end of February 2022 due to the invasion of Ukraine.
However, following UEFA’s executive committee meeting on Tuesday, European football’s governing body confirmed that Russian involvement in qualifying matches this month would no longer happen, saying: “the agenda point was withdrawn as no technical solution to allow Russian teams to play could be found.”
The 2024 Under-17 Men’s European Championship takes place in Cyprus and the 2024 Under-17 women’s European Championship is hosted in Sweden. One qualification group for the men’s tournament began in September and the remaining groups kick off their qualifiers in October. The women’s qualifiers also began this month.
Ukraine’s football association (UAF) had responded to UEFA’s decision to reinstate Russia’s Under-17 sides by saying it would not…
