Join Now for Free
Home » Fan Forums » Tickets & Travel

Russia and WADA

Matthew Isle
Specifically on St Petersburg hosting matches (and I guess Scotland qualification), has anyone an update on the WADA threats to ban Russia athletes and venues from all major events.

The press rumours now are that Russia will be found to have tried to deceive the WADA investigation and that they may be thrown out of international sporting competitions immediately. If so, Russia would lose their place at the Euro 2020 tournament and St Petersburg will have their hosting rights withdrawn.

There would have to be a new host city chosen. When Brussels was thrown off the roster for not building the promised new stadium, the cities competing for their hosting rights were Wembley, Cardiff and Stockholm. The rights were awarded to Wembley. St Petersburg is currently a host city for Group B. There is a 50/50 chance that Wales will be drawn into Group B anyway so, if Cardiff were still interested, they could become the other Group B host city. Choosing Stockholm or anywhere else would require a re-draw so that the host country could be placed into the group of the host city.

If Russia are thrown out, can we assume it will necessarily be the case that Scotland will replace them just because they were in the same qualification group ? There are 9 non-qualified teams who had a better record than Scotland in the qualification competition. Couldn't the spare place could go to one of them ? The highest ranked was Serbia.

If it is Scotland who are promoted to automatic qualification, I doubt whether there would be a draw to see who hosts the head to head : Wembley or Hampden Park. This is because the fixture list will already have been determined on 30th November. Besides, you could hardly refer to Scotland's luck as qualifying directly.

16 Replies

  • Matthew Isle
    Thanks David.
  • Will Arnold

    I saw these updates the other day and a few things came to mind:

    • Unless something happens in the next few days I agree that it is unlikely to be a further draw around Wembley vs. Hampden Park. As you say the fixture list will have been confirmed.
    • Precedence from 1992, when Yugoslavia were replaced by Denmark, seems to be that the relevant Group runners-up were added to the tournament - looking at news articles from around the time this is the reason that is given. However Denmark also had the next best qualification record across all other groups so it is hard to draw complete parallels.
    • That 1992 situation, in which Yugoslavia were replaced 9 days before the tournament, suggests that changes can still be made very close to the first match. Though of course the civil war situation there and subsequent UN sanctions are arguably slightly more serious than doping...
  • Matthew Isle
    Looking ever more likely.

    Anyone else stupid enough to have used (and potentially now looking to cancel) a load of Avios to book a back up flight to Helsinki on the 2nd?

    www.bbc.co.uk/.../50551384
  • Paul Fisher

    In reply to Matthew Isle:

    I think if you use Aviois points to book a flight there is only a £10 cancellation fee mate
  • Matthew Isle

    In reply to Paul Fisher:

    Cheers Beefy.

    Cost me 10,000 Avios (one way) and 50p booking fee so I'll take that £10.50 on the chin should they get booted out.
  • Paul Fisher

    In reply to Matthew Isle:

    I have cancelled a few times before and to fair its a great way of pre booking a flight and being able to only lose £10 plus you get the points back of course
  • Peter Sherwood

    In reply to Paul Fisher:

    They will be allowed to compete:
    www.bbc.co.uk/.../50563736

    You'd think they would prevent ST P. being a venue if they didn't, causing all sorts of mayhem.
  • Peter Titmus

    In reply to Peter Sherwood:

    Don’t cancel your flights just yet then! I have a cancellable flight to St.P. too, just in case!!
  • Matthew Isle

    In reply to Will Arnold:

    Bump
  • Kevin Jenkins

    In reply to Matthew Isle:

    Russia banned for the 2022 world cup and Tokyo ,but ok for the euro's

  • Antony Cox
    They've mentioned Russia being banned for the world cup and the Olympics but there's no mention of the Euros.

    Just wondering if there's a definitive answer anywhere as to whether they are in or out and also if they are allowed to take part but possibly not act as a host country?
  • Carl Padley

    In reply to Antony Cox:

    I think david lilley put on a thread somewere there definatly in and allowed to host and i trust info better than most newspapers the mans a real gent with his info and background for others
  • David Lilley

    In reply to Antony Cox:

    I've just taken a look at the WADA web site. The Executive Committee has agreed that signatories to the WADA code should :-
    - not award any sporting events to Russia for 4 years,
    - if legally possible, withdraw hosting rights for any events which have already been awarded,
    - not allow Russian competitors to take part unless they can prove themselves to be "clean". Then, they will take part as individual athletes, as opposed to representatives of their country.

    Signatories to the WADA code are classified as "Olympic Movement", "National Anti-Doping Organisations" and "Outside the Olympic Movement". FIFA is a signatory to the code in their capacity as a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations. UEFA is not a signatory, possibly because they are not the world governing body for football (they are subservient to FIFA) nor are they involved in the Olympic movement.

    It appears that, because Euro 2020 is not organised by FIFA, and because UEFA is not regarded as a Major Event Organisation, they don't have to withdraw participation or hosting rights from Russia for Euro 2020. If this is the reason, then it would imply that Russia can also participate in the 2020-21 Nations League. We'll have to see what UEFA do for that.

    But Russia will not be allowed to take part in the World Cup 2022, including the qualifiers, as this event is organised by FIFA. So, presumably, the UEFA qualification groups will now be 6 groups of 5 teams and 4 groups of 6 teams.

  • Antony Cox

    In reply to David Lilley:

    They've just made specific reference to it on the BBC. As the euros aren't classed as a global event they are allowed to both participate and host.
  • Ian Campbell

    In reply to David Lilley:

    No that's not true I don't think. The qualifiers aren't classified as a major l tournament so they could participate in those by if they qualify they would have to play as a neutral country in 2022 like the recent Olympics.
Sign In or Sign Up

To participate within this community you need to sign is as an England Supporters Club member here.