Russia tried making progress on its difficult and slow return to international sports while the war between Ukraine and Russia is still ongoing, with the official UEFA European football body. Aleksandr Alaev, the vice president of the Russian Football Union declined to comment when leaving after 3 hours of face-to-face talks. They have been the first since Russia drew back from last month’s threat to leave UEFA and wants to join the Asian Football Confederation.
The teams from Russia have been banned from FIFA and UEFA competitions during the war in Ukraine and currently, there is no way back from the decisions that had been upheld by the highest court of sports. Albania, Switzerland, and Poland, the national teams had refused within a few days of Ukraine’s invasion by Russia to play their scheduled games against Russia. Continue reading
Belarus will be in the 53-nation draw that Russia are banned from, although the Belarusians cannot be placed in the same group as neighboring Ukraine for security reasons. The qualifying groups will be drawn on Oct. 9 in Frankfurt, and German interior minister Nancy Faeser last week urged UEFA not to let Belarus play. UEFA said it had replied to Faeser in a confidential letter. 
Indeed, Chelsea are also investing in their future and have spent big on the stars of tomorrow. The trio of goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina, along with midfielders Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei have cost a combined £41m. The oldest of the three is Casadei at just 19. Chukwuemeka’s deal in particular came out of the blue. Almost as soon as Chelsea’s interest emerged, the ex-Villa sensation’s arrival was announced. Now, according to Gianluca Di Marzio, another promising young midfielder is on the verge of joining. 
The Polish team were able to end their 12-year wait for an appearance at the World Cup during the last edition in Russia. Poland showed a lot of promise during the qualifiers ahead of the tournament in Russia four years only for them to perform poorly when hostilities began on Russian soil. They were the favourites in their group ahead of Senegal, Colombia and Japan, but they struggled badly to live up to that status and were bottom of the group at the end of proceedings. 
