Russia to host UEFA Euro Cup matches and Champions League final despite WADA

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Russia will be still able to host next year matches of the UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) Euro Cup and the final match of the UEFA Champions League in view of the recent ruling voiced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled earlier on Thursday to keep in force a number of sanctions against Russia for the period of up to two years. The decision of the Swiss-based court was made with the frames of the legal spat between RUSADA (the Russian Anti-Doping Agency) and WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Saint Petersburg was granted the right to host three group stage matches and one of the quarterfinals of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup. The newly built football arena in St. Petersburg hosted the opening and final matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and also served as one of 12 stadiums across the country hosting matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The UEFA announced on March 17 a decision to postpone the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup for exactly one year as a preventive measure against the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus.

UEFA Deputy Secretary General Giorgio Marchetti announced to journalists in June earlier in the year that the 2021 final match of the UEFA Champions League, which was scheduled to be hosted by Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg next summer, has been postponed for one year.

In August 2019, the European governing body of football announced a decision to select Russia’s St. Petersburg as a venue for the final match of the 2021 Champions League at the recently-built new football stadium. The over 62,000-seat capacity stadium was laid down in the western part of Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg in 2007 and was commissioned in early 2017. It serves as a home stadium for the Russian Premier League (RPL) football club Zenit St. Petersburg.

WADA-RUSADA hearings in CAS

The CAS verdict, announced earlier in the day states that: “The Request for Arbitration filed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (“WADA”) dated 9 January 2020 is partially upheld.”

CAS held hearings on a legal debate between RUSADA and WADA in the period between November 2 and 5, 2020. Appointed judges in the CAS case between Russia’s RUSADA and WADA are Mark Williams (Australia), Luigi Fumagalli (Italy) and Hamid Gharavi (France).

In November 2015, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) ruled that RUSADA (the Russian Anti-Doping Agency) was non-compliant with its requirements. In November 2017, a session of WADA’s Foundation Board in Seoul decided on extending RUSADA’s status as an organization non-compliant with the international standards.

On December 9, 2019, the WADA Executive Committee (ExCo) approved the recommendations of its Compliance Review Committee (CRC) to revoke the compliance status of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency and to strip Russia of the right to participate in major international sports tournaments, including the Olympics,…