Berlin Oberliga team plays against Russian teams with U19

The club was asked to comment on the games, which were unusual and debatable given the political situation surrounding the war of aggression against Ukraine. The Berlin Football Association announced that it had no knowledge of these test encounters.

No ban on games against Russian teams

Sports competitions with Russian teams are not prohibited, despite the exclusion from all official competitions by the world association FIFA and the European continental association UEFA. Nevertheless, according to documents from the BFV, the appointment agreement is a novelty since the start of the war almost four years ago.

According to information on its social media account, the Berlin club is traveling to Turkey for the winter training camp with all of its youth teams from U12 to U19 from January 25th to February 9th. The football juniors will live in the Kremlin Palace in Antalya. Turkey and especially the Mediterranean coast is a popular destination for Russian vacationers.

Test against Kyiv canceled

“In addition to an intensive week of training, there are also attractive international test matches on the program for the young teams,” wrote the club. A test match was originally planned for the U19s, who play in the Junior Bundesliga, against the Ukrainian team Dynamo Kiev. However, there was a “short-term cancellation for political reasons,” the BAK wrote on Instagram, without explaining any details.

FIFA and UEFA had banned Russian teams from all competitions. Formally, however, this did not happen as a reaction to the military attack on Ukraine, but rather because of the threat to the “integrity of the competition,” as it is called in football-political language.

UEFA boss wants easing

Russia’s national team continues to play international matches outside of major tournaments and is ranked 38th in the official FIFA world rankings. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin had repeatedly questioned the exclusion of Russian youth teams from official competitions and suggested easing the restrictions. The Slovenian justified this by saying that the young Russian generation would otherwise be permanently isolated internationally.