Russian appeals against bans from Fifa and Uefa dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport

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Appeals by the Russian football federation (FUR) and some of its clubs against bans from international and European football have been rejected.

The country's clubs and national team were suspended from all competitions by Fifa and Uefa in February following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Six appeals were launched against the decision but have been dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

The FUR says it could now appeal to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland.

Cas held hearings over video with the parties involved on 5 and 11 July.

"The panel determined that the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the public and government responses worldwide, created unforeseen and unprecedented circumstances to which Fifa and Uefa had to respond," said a Cas statement.

"In determining that Russian teams and clubs should not participate in competitions under their aegis while such circumstances persisted, the panel held that both parties acted within the scope of the discretion granted to them under their respective statutes and regulations."

In April, Russia dropped an appeal against the country being suspended from the 2022 World Cup by Fifa.

However, the FUR continued with an appeal against Fifa and Uefa, while Zenit St Petersburg, Sochi, CSKA Moscow and Dynamo Moscow appealed against Uefa.

The Cas statement added: "The panel found it unnecessary to characterise the nature of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but only to focus on the consequences of such conflict for the competitions affected.

"The panel finds it unfortunate that the current military operations in Ukraine, for which Russian football teams, clubs and players have themselves no responsibility, had, by reason of the decisions of Fifa and Uefa, such an adverse effect on them and Russian football generally, but those effects were, in the panel's view, offset by the need for the secure and orderly conduct of football events for the rest of the world."

The FUR said it "strongly disagrees" with the Cas ruling and a "decision on further actions will be made after the analysis of the grounds for the Cas panel's decisions".

It added: "The options may include appeal to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland and filing claims to Cas related to compensation for financial losses incurred by the FUR as the result of Uefa and Fifa's actions."

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