Russian soccer faces isolated future

Four years after Russia hosted the World Cup, and reached the quarter-finals, the sport faces being isolated within the world game.

UEFA stripped St Peterburg of the Champions League final and banned club teams from European competition. World governing body FIFA suspended the national team and has given green light for foreign players to unilaterally suspend their contracts from Thursday onwards.

The Russian soccer federation appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday to have its FIFA and UEFA bans frozen and other punishments overturned.

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CAS said it hoped to decide on the appeals in the coming days.

Should the appeal fail Russia will be cut off from the soccer world. It is an extraordinary turnaround that is expected to hit its sport's community hard, even though the domestic leagues are continuing.

"It was very hectic. First the coaches left, then the foreign players wanted to leave as well. It feels like a sinking ship," Swedish international Viktor Claesson has said.

Claesson needed a day and a half to reach his home country from Krasnodar together with his wife, one of nine players to leave the club along with their German coach Daniel Farke.

Ukrainian players and coaches have obviously also left such as Dynamo Moscow assistant coach Andriy Voronin.

"When I see photos from my home country it seems to be unreal. It is like a horror movie. We are living in the year 2022 and not during World War II," he said.

FIFA reacted on Monday, saying that players who have not reached a personal agreement by Thursday with their Russian clubs "have the right to unilaterally suspend their employment contracts" and sign elsewhere until April 7