The Russian national team is the third in history to receive a direct ban from FIFA from participating in the World Cup for political reasons. The team was excluded from the competition in Qatar in 2022, and it seems that the scenario will be repeated 4 years later in the USA. The Russians have been suspended from international tournaments of any sporting nature due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions by the UN. It is on them that FIFA is relying when making the strict decision, which is actually unprecedented in history.

The latest victim was not just a European country, but even a Balkan one - Yugoslavia. Our western neighbor was banned from the 1992 European Championship. The decision was made just before the start of the tournament - 10 days earlier, even though Yugoslavia had won its qualifying group before that. The ban in question also caused the sensation of Denmark winning the tournament without any prior preparation. Two years later, the ban on participation also applied to the World Cup qualifiers in the USA, so Serbia and Montenegro returned to the international stage at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

South Africa was the first to be banned by FIFA for political reasons. This happened back in the middle of the last century, when the African republic suffered due to racial apartheid. The ban was imposed in 1961 and lifted two years later during a visit by then FIFA President Stanley Rus. After the restrictions, South Africa's first significant success came only in 1996, when it won the African Cup of Nations. |BGNES