Platini: UEFA to keep ex-Soviet states apart
Reuters - Saturday 06 February 2010, 18:09
WARSAW - The former Soviet Union states of
Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan will be kept apart in
Sunday's qualifying round draw for the 2012 European
Championship.
FIFA president Michel Platini told a news conference on
Saturday the decision was taken in a bid to keep politics out of
sport.
Platini said the executive committee wanted to ensure there
was no repeat of the situation that arose when Armenia and
Azerbaijan were drawn in the same qualifying group for the Euro
2008 finals but refused to play against each other.
"The executive committee decided that Russia and Georgia
should not be in the same group, or Armenia or Azerbaijan. So if
that happens in the draw, we will draw again.
"During the qualifiers for Euro 2008 Armenia and Azerbaijan
found themselves in the same group and these two matches were
deleted as they decided not to play against each other.
"Now we have decided to avoid that possibility and not have
the problems that would arise if they were in the same group."
Asked if UEFA were creating a dangerous precedent by
allowing politics to interfere in a sporting decision, he
replied: "We took this decision because we don't want sport to
mix with politics.
"In this way we are avoiding any political problems
regarding those countries. We don't want to interfere in their
politics and I believe the executive committee took the right
decision."
Politically opposed countries have often played each other
in the past - and also refused to do so.
North and South Korea have met in World Cup qualifiers and
both have reached this year's World Cup finals in South Africa.
There have also been many examples of countries refusing to
play against political adversaries.
The former Soviet Union refused to play Chile in Santiago in
a second leg playoff for a place in the 1974 World Cup finals in
West Germany and were later banned by FIFA from the competition.
Asian and Middle East countries opposed to Israel frequently
boycotted matches against Israel which led to Israel eventually
leaving the Asian Confederation and joining UEFA.
The draw for the qualifying competition of Euro 2012 will
take place on Sunday at 11am GMT.