Barcelona and Napoli players hold a banner aloft before their Europa League fixture on Friday. Photo / Getty
The invasion of Ukraine has drawn punitive measures across the sporting world overnight with Russia officially stripped of the Champions League final, UEFA replacing St. Petersburg with Paris as host, and Formula One dropping this season's Russian Grand Prix in Sochi.
The International Olympic Committee also urged sports federations to move their events out of Russia or Belarus, which Moscow is using as a staging ground for its troops moving into Ukraine from the north.
A backlash against the embrace of Russian state-owned companies as sponsors in sports saw Manchester United drop Aeroflot's commercial deal, with the Premier League club citing "events in Ukraine" after the airline was banned in Britain as part of sanctions against President Vladimir Putin's regime.
Although UEFA still has Gazprom as a Champions League sponsor, the final will no longer be staged at the St. Petersburg stadium named after the Russian state-owned energy firm. The climax to the European men's football season will still be held on May 28 but now at the 80,000-seat Stade de France in the Saint-Denis suburb of the French capital after the decision by UEFA's executive committee.
It followed discussions led by UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin that involved the European Commission and French President Emmanuel Macron in recent days after concerns were raised about the status of Russia retaining such a prestigious event after its aggression toward another European country.
UEFA thanked Macron for his "personal support and commitment to have European club football's most prestigious game moved to France at a time of unparalleled crisis."
Alexander Dyukov, a Russian member of the UEFA executive committee, complained the decision was taken for "political reasons." Dyukov also opposed UEFA ordering Russian clubs and national teams to play at neutral venues until further notice — a ruling also imposed on Ukrainian sides.
The move comes as Russian bombs and troops pounded Ukraine during the invasion's first full day, and world leaders on Friday began to fine-tune a response meant to punish the Russian economy and its leaders, including Putin's inner circle.
The IOC had already condemned Russia for breaching the Olympic Truce, days after the end of the Beijing Winter Games and ahead of the Paralympics.
Russia's name, flag and anthem are already barred from the March 4-13 Paralympics in Beijing over previous doping disputes. Its team is due to compete as RPC, short for Russian Paralympic Committee.
Now the IOC is asking events not subject to the WADA doping sanctions to no longer display the Russian or Belarussian national flags or play their anthems.
Motorsport has continued in Russia after not being bound by the WADA ruling, banning Russia hosting international sports events through December.
The F1 race wasn't due until September in the Black Sea resort of Sochi but the motorsport series leadership decided it would be "impossible" to stage the Grand Prix after talks with teams and the FIA governing body. US team Haas also dropped the sponsorship of Russian company Uralkali during preseason testing in Barcelona. Nikita Mazepin of Haas is the only Russian driver on the F1 grid this season.
The French government has said it will work with UEFA to help to rescue footballers and their families who "face dire human suffering, destruction and displacement," European football's governing body said in a statement.
There is the unresolved matter of Russia still being due to host Poland in World Cup qualifying playoff semifinals in Moscow. Poland wants the game taken out of Russia, but FIFA has yet to decide.
UEFA was more decisive on the Champions League final hosting, which was welcomed by the British government.
"Russia must not be allowed to exploit sporting and cultural events on the world stage to legitimise its unprovoked, premeditated and needless attack against a sovereign democratic state," said British Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who has the sports brief.
This is the third consecutive year that UEFA has had to change its Champions League final location after two switches due to Covid-19 issues. The Stade de France last hosted the Champions League final 16 years ago, when Barcelona beat Arsenal in the 2006 final.
UEFA has two weeks before the next set of Champions League games to resolve the issue of Gazprom adverts flashing around stadium pitches. Reinforcing the company's close links to UEFA, Dyukov is a CEO of a Gazprom subsidiary as well as sitting on European football's top decision-making body.
Gazprom's logo has already been removed this week from the jerseys of German club Schalke but it remains a sponsor.
Away from football, the International Ski Federation announced that Russia will not host any more of its World Cup events this winter. The decision came after a farcical attempt to hold ski cross races on Friday in the Urals resort Sunny Valley one day after Russia started an invasion of Ukraine.
Only a handful of Russians started and dozens of racers from all other countries did not take part. FIS cited "the safety of all participants and to maintain the integrity of the World Cup" for calling off five scheduled events in the next month. Replacement venues are being sought.
Premier League oligarchs told to condemn Putin
Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov have been told to condemn Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine if they want to avoid repeated calls for sanctions in parliament.
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who declared in the Commons on Thursday that Abramovich is unfit to own Chelsea, has also implored on fans and players to join protests.
The Chelsea owner and influential Everton investor should already be among those to have assets frozen in retaliation for the outbreak of war in Europe, he told Telegraph Sport.
Bryant, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Russia, said he was calling on Abramovich and Usmanov - and other Russians who do have tier 1 visas - "to make absolutely clear now that they oppose the illegal invasion of Ukraine".
"They should be lining up in front of the TV cameras to say 'surely to God this can't be happening'," Bryant added. "Otherwise we will conclude that they are still in hock to Putin."
Chelsea and Everton fans were also encouraged to place pressure on the football billionaires by unfurling Ukraine flags at matches.
While Abramovich has attempted to distance himself from direct links with Putin, Usmanov, who has a £30 million first-refusal agreement in place for the naming rights at Everton's new Bramley-Moor Dock stadium, said in 2010: "I am proud that I know Putin, and the fact that everybody does not like him is not Putin's problem."
While he is not a shareholder at Everton, fans can be left in no doubt over his involvement, with his firm's USM Holdings branding emblazoned across the training ground main building. Another company of Usmanov's, Megafon, is the shirt sponsor for the women's team.
NHL superstar and vocal Putin supporter calls for peace
Alex Ovechkin, one of the most prominent Russian athletes in the US, made a plea for peace while talking with reporters after practice for his Washington Capitals NHL team in Philadelphia. The Moscow native said he has family and "lots of friends in Russia and Ukraine" and hopes the attack will end soon.
"Please, no more war," Ovechkin said Saturday. "It doesn't matter who is in the war, Russia, Ukraine, different countries. I think we live in a world that we have to live in peace."
Ovechkin has been a vocal supporter of Russia President Vladimir Putin. In 2017, Ovechkin launched the "Putin team" he said was not related to the election the following year but rather a show of support for his country. Asked Saturday about his relationship with Putin, the NHL star said: "He's my president, but I'm not in politics. I'm an athlete."
Russian tennis star writes 'No War Please' after win
Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev wrote "No War Please" on a TV camera moments after advancing to the final at the Dubai Championships on Saturday.
The seventh-ranked Rublev had just beaten Poland's Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) in their semifinal match before writing his message on the camera — as is common after matches.
Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev wrote “no war please” on the camera after winning his match 🙏
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 25, 2022
(via @TSN_Sports)pic.twitter.com/6Nvs0DNx81
Compatriot Daniil Medvedev spoke Thursday at the Mexico Open about waking up to news that his country had invaded Ukraine.
"Watching the news from home, waking up here in Mexico, was not easy," said Medvedev, who will become the No. 1 men's player when rankings are announced next week.
"By being a tennis player, I want to promote peace all over the world," Medvedev continued. "We play in so many different countries. It's just not easy to hear all this news. I'm all for peace."
- with The Daiy Telegraph UK
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