Ian Mallon: No hope of winning, but rival Russia Euros bid can tie Uefa in legal knots
The UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Photo FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
IF CONFIRMED and Russia enters a bid to rival Ireland and UK for Euro 2028, then UEFA and the British and Irish associations have only themselves to blame.
Reports from Russia that the Russian Football Union (RFU) has agreed to support a bid for the 2028 or 2032 competitions suggests that such a bid has now been entered, with Uefa to release a statement later today.
While the temptation to dismiss such a move as madness is understandable – it would amount to a deeply cunning and sinister strategy for which Uefa is constitutionally obliged to accept.
While Uefa has not removed Russia from Nyon, nor its up to 20 operatives who occupy positions of high power within European Football, then the RFU remains a legitimate member of that organisation.
The very idea of a pariah state indicating its desire to host a major football tournament, while pernicious, now becomes a deeply complicated matter for Uefa to deal with and one it should have managed effectively as soon as Russia illegally invaded Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the war last month Russia has continued to hold onto positions of extraordinary influence within Uefa - from the Executive Committee (ExCo), or supreme leadership board – right through the 19 committees and panels which run European Football.
Chief amongst Uefa’s Russian operatives is Aleksandr Dyukov, the President of the Russian Football Union, Chief Executive and Chairman of Gazprom and central member of ExCo.
Dyukov’s hands will be all over any Russian bid, and while it is undoubtedly a revenge attack for Uefa removing the Champions League Final from his home city of St Petersburg and suspending Russian teams from international competitions – it is payback with purpose.
The Irish Examiner contacted Uefa at the beginning of the month and asked if there were plans to remove Russia or Russians from the 19 powerbases of European football - on the back of suspending its teams from competition.
At the time Uefa was emphatic in its support of its Russian football colleagues.
“The decision taken by the Uefa executive committee on February 28, 2022, to suspend Russian clubs and national teams does not affect Russian officials in the Uefa executive committee and Uefa committees or panels,” it responded in a statement.
Similarly, the FAI and its Euro bid partners the FA would not condemn Russia’s ongoing presence at the heart of football – the FA said it was a Uefa issue, of which it is a central member.
Both federations knew that any condemnation would not go well during the early part of a process in which it is trying to secure a European Championships.
In all, 21 positions across the 19 boards and committees are occupied by Russian and Belarussian football federation staff, with each body also happening to rule over Ukrainian football.
On Monday night – as politicians and news networks here were celebrating Ireland and UK having a solo run for Euro 2028 by today’s deadline, there was a growing suspicion that other bids were coming.
While Uefa was desperately trying to verify such moves, it was becoming clear that Russia was preparing a move, one which would bring a world of pain for Uefa.
On Tuesday the Irish nation was treated to a Joe Duffy Liveline show dedicated to Ireland winning the bid for Euro 2028, even though that official announcement will not be made until September 2023.
Today only marks the ‘Deadline for national associations to confirm their interest to bid’ and while the RFU is still a legitimate member of Uefa, it is now part of a process which has an agonising 18 months to run before the ‘Appointment of host(s) for UEFA EURO 2028’ is formally announced.
In the event of a solo bid, in this case by the UK&I, there was still no guarantees that Uefa would break with its process and confirm success earlier than advertised – Uefa does things by the book, even if many chapters are flawed.
Russia knows that by elongating that process, in which question marks and doubts will remain over Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for another 18 months, it is simply causing as much chaos as it can, legally and constitutionally.
It also presents the opportunity for infighting amongst the UK and Ireland over how to extricate Northern Ireland from the bid — with the North currently unable to host games in such a tournament, why then is it still included as a co-host country?
Such matters are for another day, for now, the big problem is how Uefa deals with Russia.
One outcome which will be considered, is to suspend the RFU from the organisation, but this must happen before it officially confirms bidders by April 5, and such moves may not happen quickly.
A strategy to ban the RFU would require the full support of the Uefa ExCo, and once again there lurks Dyukov, who will undoubtedly unleash untold legal process and pain which could wrap Nyon up in knots for a considerable time.
Ultimately a Russian bid hasn’t a hope of succeeding, with only a small number of allies it can depend on at Uefa, including Turkey and Belarus.
However, that’s not the aim or the point here.
This is shock and awe, football style, where the goal is to inflict agonising uncertainty and chaos Uefa and European football for some time to come – and the conversations I’ve had today are anything to go by, that has started already.
