(Source: https://www.rusdialog.ru/images/news/50b2e7e049c5238c8e307788b73bcbf1.jpg)

If the Russian national team is selected for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Russian athletes will have to compete under a neutral flag. This was announced at a press conference by the chairman of the Compliance Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Jonathan Taylor, Reuters reports.

“If they come out [for the World Cup], the team representing Russia will not be able to participate. But if you use the appropriate mechanism, they can apply for participation on a neutral basis, and not as representatives of Russia,” Taylor said. At the same time, the new WADA head Vitold Banka, who will take office on January 1, said   that sanctions against Russia would not apply to the 2020 European Football Championship. The national team will be able to play in the final part of the championship, and St. Petersburg will not be deprived of the right to host four matches of the tournament.

At the last World Cup in 2018, the Russian team reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to Croatia in the penalty shoot-out. Russian football players did not participate in the selection for the championship, since Russia was the host of the tournament.

On Monday, the Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)  deprived Russia of the right to participate in major international competitions for four years, including the Olympics. The anti-doping agency also banned Russian officials and leaders of the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees from attending sports events.

The WADA Compliance Committee recommended that Russia should be removed from sporting events for anti-doping rule violations. Russian athletes will be able to participate in such tournaments only under the neutral flag, if they prove that they were not involved in the doping scandal. The BBC reported that members of the organization’s athletes committee considered the decision to allow “clean” athletes to participate under the neutral flag incorrect and called for the complete removal of Russian athletes from participating in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and Beijing in 2022.