Russia slams 'discriminatory' decision by FIFA and UEFA to ban it from all competition

The Russian Football Union on Monday night denounced the decision from FIFA to suspend its teams from all international tournaments, saying the move was "discriminatory".

The Russian men's team were scheduled to play Poland in a World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final on March 24, and might have faced Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29 for a place at the finals in Qatar later this year.But their three potential opponents insisted they would boycott the matches.FIFA announced on Sunday that Russian teams would be allowed to continue playing under the name of the Football Union of Russia, playing home games on neutral territory and behind closed doors, and with the Russian flag and anthem banned.

READ | Russia dumped out of all international soccer as Fifa confirms blanket suspension

But those measures were dismissed as "totally unacceptable" by Polish FA president Cezary Kulesza, who added that Poland would not play their World Cup play-off with Russia, "no matter what the name of the team is."FIFA changed its approach on Monday, kicking Russia out of the sport's showpiece tournament.

"It has an obvious discriminatory character and harms a huge number of athletes, coaches, employees of clubs and national teams, and most importantly, millions of Russian and foreign fans, whose interests international sports organisations must protect in the first place," Russia's governing body said in a statement.The decisions come after a widespread outcry, with global players' union FIFPro on Monday releasing a statement saying it "strongly disagreed" with the initial measures taken by FIFA.FIFPro criticised FIFA for not imposing stronger sanctions right away and said that participation of Russian teams in international competitions