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Crimea and Sevastopol

UEFA bans Crimean clubs from Russian championship as of January 1

NYON, Switzerland, December 4. /TASS/. UEFA has banned the participation of three football clubs based in the Republic of Crimea - TSK, SKCF and Zhemchuzhina - in the Russian national competitions as of January 1, 2015, UEFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino told a news conference here on Thursday.

Along with it, the Russian Football Union (RFU) will not be penalized for placing the three clubs to the Second Division of Russia’s championship in the 2014/2015 season.

A special area will be set up in Crimea where football will supposedly be developing under UEFA’s exclusive auspices.

RFU Honorary President Vyacheslav Koloskov told TASS earlier that the final decision on the Crimean clubs’ problem would be taken by FIFA on December 18 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

At the end of July, the RFU permitted the Crimean clubs to undergo licensing by way of a decision to be taken by its bureau. They were entered in the second division of the Russian championship.

The decision was challenged by the football federation of Ukraine and the UEFA passed an intermediary resolution on August 22. It said it did not recognize the placement of the three Crimean clubs in the second division of Russia’s championship and ruled to hold an extra meeting of the parties concerned “to tap a common solution to the situation.”

Representatives of FIFA, UEFA, the RFU and the Ukrainian football federation had four meetings in September. A decision was taken then to set up a workgroup that would be given the task of settling the awkward situation around football in Crimea, which reunited with Russia in March 2014.

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Crimea and Sevastopol

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