Russian fan backlash intensifies over Euro 2024 ban
8:13 AM EDT, June 17, 2024
Among the participants of Euro 2024, you will not find Russia. This exclusion is not due to poor qualifications but stems from the Russian Federation's ban from international competitions after the invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, many Russians struggle to understand why their country has been excluded from the competition.
It appears that many Russians view the invasion of Ukraine with a lack of introspection. They seem unconcerned about the Russian Federation's soldiers killing innocent civilians. From their perspective, the key issue is that the Russian football team is not participating in the European Football Championship in Germany.
This sentiment among Russian fans is highlighted by Vyacheslav Zarutski, a Russian blogger who has lived in Poland for a long time. Zarutski reveals the realities of life in the Russian Federation and the prevailing social attitudes within the country.
Zarutski directly quotes a few comments from the internet. "What is this madness? Why can't our national team go to Euro 2024?" writes one of the outraged netizens.
We want to see our national team at Euro 2024, and we don't care about your politics. This is simply unacceptable! We are Russians, God is with us! - adds "Just a man".
Russia removed from Euro. Russians outraged
Meanwhile, "Sergey" believes that UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) suspended the Russian team "just because Russia is killing Ukrainians."
It is ridiculous that our footballers were suspended from Euro 2024 just because we are killing Ukrainians. What's that logic? UEFA, are you serious? [...] Punishing the team and fans for actions they have no control over? - writes a Russian fan.
It should be noted that Russians were suspended from UEFA and FIFA membership rights immediately after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This led to their removal from the playoffs for a ticket to the World Cup in Qatar, where they were supposed to compete against Poland. Since then, they have not been allowed to participate in international football competitions.
