MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) has filed formal protests with the International Association Football Federation (FIFA), the world football governing body, and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) against the participation of European football clubs in a scheduled friendly tournament in Russia, the UAF press office said in a statement on Monday.

"The UAF has repeatedly appealed to UEFA, FIFA, to all our partners from the football community in Europe and the world to prevent participation in football competitions with the participation of Russian teams, including on the territory of Russia," the statement from the UAF press office reads.

St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, is hosting on July 1-15 a friendly pre-season football tournament, the Pari Premier Cup, which features matches among Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg FC, Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda FC, Turkey’s Fenerbahce FC and Azerbaijan’s Neftchi FC.

Russia’s football ban

The International Association Football Federation (FIFA) announced on February 28, 2022 that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments.

In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision in regard to the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.

Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.