The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said yesterday that the Russian national soccer team could not take part in the 2022 World Cup under the Russian flag due to doping sanctions that bar the country from major sporting events for four years. WADA earlier on Monday banned Russia from the world’s top sporting events for four years, a period that includes the next summer and winter Olympics and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, for tampering with doping-related laboratory data. “If they qualify (for the World Cup), a team representing Russia cannot participate. The Russian Football Union told Russian news agencies earlier on Monday it had yet to hear Fifa’s official position on the WADA decision. WADA has said these events “are not multi-sport major events or world championships but rather regional/continental single-sport events.”

Source: The Star December 09, 2019 21:00 UTC