Football World Cup: Putin did not threaten FIFA, viral claims are false
Russia has been suspended from the 2022 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup following the invasion of Ukraine.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 7 March 2022 11:30 AM GMT
HYDERABAD: Russia has been suspended from the 2022 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup following the invasion of Ukraine.
A post claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened FIFA is viral on social media.
The post carries a picture of Putin and FIFA President Gianni Infantino adjacent to the World Cup trophy and reads, "Russia will play at the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup or there will be no world cup to talk about,"
Click here to view posts.
FACT CHECK:
On March 1, 2022, FIFA and the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) released a joint statement, expelling Russia from all international football competitions. The joint statement reads: "Following the initial decisions adopted by the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, which envisaged the adoption of additional measures, FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice."
Following this, the Russian Football Union (RFU) decided to appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the ban. The RFU statement reads: "As part of a single lawsuit against two organizations, the RFU will demand to restore of all men's and women's national teams of Russia in all types of football in the tournaments in which they took part (including in the qualifying round of the World Cup in Qatar), as well as to compensate for the damage if its availability is established."
However, there was no mention of Putin threatening FIFA.
NewsMeter searched online for new reports that could support the claim that Putin threatened FIFA, but found no related results. Had Putin addressed the issue, the media would have reported it. Since no reports have been published, it is highly likely that Putin did not make such a statement.
Therefore, it is clear that the claim is false. Putin has not threatened FIFA.
