There is war in Europe and sport goes on. But he doesn’t pretend that nothing is wrong, he reacts. However, the question is always: is he reacting correctly? And does he react enough? For example, there was Ukrainian footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Manchester City. Before the game against Everton, he hugged Vitali Mykolenko, his compatriot in the different jersey. His team-mates wore T-shirts with the Ukrainian flag, the stadium took notice, and Zinchenko was moved to tears.
A strong gesture – but part of the picture is that Manchester City belongs to influential sheikhs from the United Arab Emirates. A state that abstained in the UN Security Council vote to condemn the Russian invasion. When there is war, you always have to look behind the messages.
There are also expressions of solidarity with Ukraine in the Premier League stands, here in Everton.
(Photo: Peter Byrne/dpa)
What is certain is that some things are currently in motion in international sport. The Polish national team announced on Saturday that it would not play Russia in the World Cup qualifying playoff game. The other two possible opponents, Sweden and the Czech Republic, also declared their refusal. Robert Lewandowski, world footballer, Bayern striker, captain of the Polish team and usually not known for making political statements, called it the “right decision”. He played against Frankfurt with the Ukrainian flag on his arm. The statements by the three countries are putting pressure on the world football association Fifa, which is the only major sports association to have drawn absolutely no conclusions from the Russian invasion. President Infantino has to make a decision: either throw out Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic – or throw out Russia.
It’s hard to imagine that Russian and Ukrainian athletes will meet at the Paralympics
Which brings us to another topic. The complete exclusion of Russia from world sport is the elephant in the room, so far only events have been withdrawn from the state, the Champions League final, for example, and the Formula 1 race. The IOC recommended canceling all competitions in Russia and Belarus. But kicking Russia out the door hasn’t been done before. The focus is therefore on Fifa – and also on the IPC, the International Paralympic Committee. The Paralympics are to take place in Beijing from March 4th. It’s hard to imagine how Russian athletes will meet Ukrainian athletes there.
Roman Abramovich, oligarch and owner of Chelsea FC, drew his own kind of conclusion on Saturday. He handed over the “administration” of the club to trustees of a club foundation. However, nobody had asked him to withdraw from the operative business – it was up for debate to confiscate his possessions, including the club.
As I said, it is necessary to look twice at some messages, especially in these times. Of course it’s nice when clubs like Eintracht Frankfurt take a clear position and say “Stop it, Putin!” send out into the world. It is not much. But at least something.