German Bundesliga club 1. FC Koln has urged UEFA, European soccer's governing body, to remove Belarusian football clubs from all European competitions over Minsk's support of Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The club said in a letter made public on July 21 that it was "simply not sufficient" to have clubs from Belarus play their home games on neutral ground and that they should be removed from competitions, just as Russian clubs had been.
The letter called for "decisive action" from UEFA, saying 1. FC Koln could face a club from Belarus in the Europa Conference League playoffs in August given that there are four football clubs from Belarus -- FC BATE Barysau, FC Homel, FC Shakhtsyor Salihorsk, and FC Dinamo Minsk -- in the qualifying round.
"The massive support of the Russian invasion war on Ukraine by Belarus is not only against the values and norms of 1. FC Koln, but against those of the entire sport," the club said in the letter.
"For this reason, we ask you to follow the recommendation of the [International Olympic Committee] and to not only exclude the Russian teams, but also the teams from Belarus, from all European competitions with immediate effect."
The letter also emphasized that a recent verdict by the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed the legitimacy of the exclusion of Russian clubs and added that the European Union has also imposed sanctions on Belarus over its support of Moscow in its war against Ukraine by providing communications and territory for Russia to launch its wide-scale aggression against Ukraine.
