The FIVB has just announced it will no longer allow Russia to host the Men’s World Championship for 2022. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held there from August 26 to September 11. The decision comes after much public outcry which included a number of countries, including Poland, France, the USA and Canada announcing they would not attend a World Championship held in Russia.
According to the official statement released by the FIVB today, “The FIVB Board of Administration has come to the conclusion that it would be impossible to prepare and stage the World Championships in Russia due to the war in Ukraine. It has accordingly decided to remove from Russia the organisation of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship scheduled to be held in August and September 2022.”
Earlier this week the FIVB had also announced Russia would no longer be allowed to host any games for Volleyball Nations League. New host nations for both VNL and the Men’s World Championship have yet to be named.
Hours after announcing the World Championship would be moved out of Russia, FIVB followed up with another decision – this one declaring that Russia and Belarus are as of now, no longer eligible for international and continental competitions. The decision comes into force immediately and will continue until further notice. The ban extends to national teams, clubs, officials and beach volleyball and snow volleyball athletes.
Leading up to that decision many countries had stated they would not play Russia while this conflict continues. The Polish Volleyball Federation, for one, made it very clear that its teams “see no possibility to engage in sport competition against teams from Russia and from the countries that support Kremlin’s aggression.”
Here at home, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Athlete’s Commission issued a joint statement urging “all Canadian National Sport Organizations and organizations hosting international sporting events in Canada to immediately rescind invitation and bar the participation of athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus.”
Volleyball Canada CEO Mark Eckert echoed that statement by saying, “we stand with our government and sport partners in condemning the actions of Russia and this would extend to not playing the Russian team (s).”
The Canadian Women’s team had been scheduled to play against Russia in Volleyball Nations League on June 18th in the Philippines.
Other sports federations have already announced they will ban Russia from participating in international events – including FIFA who has expelled Russia from the upcoming World Cup.