The TAS maintains the veto of FIFA and UEFA to Russia

LONDON (UNITED KINGDOM), July 15. (dpa/EP) -

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed the appeal filed by the Russian football federation against FIFA and UEFA for the exclusion of Russian national teams and clubs from world and European competitions.

Both FIFA and UEFA banned the Russian team from participating in their tournaments, such as the senior and grassroots World Cup and European Championship, on February 28, days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

The Football Union of Russia (FUR) and a group of Russian clubs then appealed to the CAS against the ban, but on Friday the sports court announced that all of Russia's appeals had been dismissed.

Six appeals were filed in total, one by FUR against FIFA and one by FUR against UEFA, and one each from four clubs -- Zenit Saint Petersburg, FC Sochi, CSKA Moscow and Dynamo Moscow -- - against UEFA.

All of them were dismissed by a TAS panel that heard them by videoconference on July 5 and 11. "The panel found that the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and public and government responses around the world, created unprecedented and unforeseen circumstances to which FIFA and UEFA had to respond," the court said.

"In determining that Russian teams and clubs should not participate in competitions under its aegis while such circumstances persisted, the panel held that both parties acted within the scope of the discretion granted to them by their respective statutes and regulations," CAS defended the two football entities.

The statement ensures that the CAS panel considered it "unnecessary" to characterize the nature of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and that it only focuses on the consequences of said conflict for the affected competitions.

"The panel considers it unfortunate that the current military operations in Ukraine, for which Russian football teams, clubs and players are not responsible, have had, due to the decisions of FIFA and UEFA, such an adverse effect on them and Russian football in general. But those effects were, in the panel's opinion, offset by the need for safe and orderly action of football events for the rest of the world," CAS appealed.