• The Russian men’s beach football team is unlikely to defend.
• The ban has been met with criticism from players and coaches.
• Players say they are motivated to continue playing>

The Russian men’s beach football team, world champions in 2021, is unlikely to have the opportunity to defend their title in 2024, but the players and coaches are still optimistic that they will someday find their way out of the sporting desert and back onto the world stage.

UEFA, the international soccer governing organization, and its equivalent Following Moscow’s decision to send soldiers to Ukraine in February 2022, FIFA ruled that all Russian teams, whether they were club or national teams, would be barred from participating in their tournaments.

This also holds true for beach football, and while the ban is unquestionably bad for Russia, captain Anton Shkarin thinks the entire game has suffered.

“When you disconnect a national team such as ours, the class falls immediately,” he told Reuters at a training session in Moscow. “We communicate well with the guys from Europe who play and everyone is upset that we’re banned.”

This month, Russia hosted and won a friendly competition in St. Petersburg, defeating elite teams Iran, Senegal, and the United Arab Emirates, who will host the World Cup in 2018.

When asked if not participating in official matches was difficult, Fedor Zemskov responded that his own motivation had only increased and that Russia as a whole needed to conduct some introspection.

“We have no right to say, ‘It’s hard for us’,” said Zemskov. “Because there are people who have it harder. We have the opportunity to keep on doing our favorite thing, playing football, bringing joy to spectators.”

Head coach Mikhail Likhachev, a three-time world champion, said: “For football players, for sports people in general, for coaches, this is, of course, not the best situation because being banned from a thing you are the best in the world at is very difficult.”

Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been re-accepted into many Olympic sports as neutrals, upsetting several nations who believe they shouldn’t be given a road to the Games.

Russia said on Thursday that it would hold a competition among the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in 2019.

The players stated they would leap at the chance to compete despite the Russian authorities’ claims that it is discriminatory to prohibit the country’s athletes and deny them access to national symbols like their flag or anthem.

“It’s better to play than not to play,” said goalkeeper Stanislav Kosharnyi. “So at the first opportunity they allow it, I’ll be all for it.”

Ultimately, players have to decide for themselves, said Zemskov.

“For me personally, nothing has changed. I’ll keep on defending my country’s colors.”

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