How the Russian invasion of Ukraine impacted the sports world
War and sports have overlapped many times in the past and once again following the Russian invasion of Ukraine leagues, teams, and athletes across all sports have all reacted to what has been called the beginning of World War 3.
One of the world’s largest events, the UEFA Champions League Final, was the first event to be moved out of Russia. The Champions League Final was originally scheduled to take place in Saint Petersburg, Russia in late May, but since the Russian invasion has been relocated to Paris. The Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg was going to host the 2021 Final before the COVID-19 pandemic forced that to be moved and now they lost the 2022 Final.
This was not the only major soccer event that is set to take place in Russia. The UEFA World Cup has three playoff paths left for teams to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and Path B includes Russia who was set to host both their semifinal as well as the final in which the winner would advance to Qatar. However, the other three countries in this path, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Sweden, have all come together and refuse to play in Russia. It will be interesting to also see what happens in Path A which includes Ukraine, who will be playing both games on the road anyway.
Two other non-soccer federations will be moving their events out of Russia as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Formula One was going to hold the Russian Grand Prix for the ninth year in a row in September, but after a meeting between Formula 1, the FIA (International Automobile Federation), and the teams it was decided that the Russian GP in Sochi will not be going ahead. This was not too surprising after Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull driver and current World Champion Max Verstappen both called for the race in Russia to be canceled.
The other non-soccer federation that was scheduled to host a number of events in Russia was the International Ski Federation (FIS). There were going to be six FIS events hosted in Russia during the rest of the season, but these will be either moved elsewhere or canceled entirely.
Another side of sports that has already seen some impact from the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the sponsorship side. German soccer team Schalke 04 has the Russian company Gazprom as one of their main sponsors. The team’s jerseys had the company on them which has now been removed and will instead have Schalke 04 written across the front.
In Formula 1, the lone American team, Haas, released their new car for the 2022 season which was colored white with red and blue stripes because of Russian sponsor Uralkali. During preseason testing this week Haas removed all things associated with Uralkali from the car and ran a solid white car instead. Haas is the center of Russian Formula 1 with the main sponsor being Russian as well as one of the two drivers, Nikita Mazepin. Mazepin’s future has been a topic of discussion the last few days as he is the only Russian driver in the field this season and his father and Uralkali founder, Dmitry Mazepin, is a businessman that met with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow at the Kremlin this week.
Similar to Dmitry Mazepin, Chelsea billionaire owner and businessman, Roman Abramovich, is also believed to be a close friend of Putin. Abramovich has been the owner of Chelsea since 2003, but may be forced to sell the club as a result of his possible involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This could be very possible after Abramovich was effectively barred from living in the United Kingdom earlier this week.
On Thursday there were multiple games that had protests or moments of silence prior to the game starting. Before the Europa League match between Napoli and Barcelona players from both sides came together to hold a banner that had the words “STOP WAR” on it. There was a similar protest by Ruslan Malinovskyi in the Olympiacos vs Atalanta match. After scoring a goal for Atalanta the Ukrainian, Malinovskyi pulled up his jersey revealing a shirt underneath that read “No War in Ukraine”. A game that took place in the U.S. that saw a moment of silence beforehand was the Denver Nuggets game in Sacramento against the Kings. Alex Len of the Kings is one of two NBA players to come from Ukraine along with Svi Mykhailiuk of the Toronto Raptors.
It has not just been teams or federations that have made changes in light of the Russian invasion but players as well. Former heavyweight boxing champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko announced that they would be taking up arms to help defend their country. The older brother, Vitali, is currently the Mayor of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. Current heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk is also ready to join the fight against Russia. Usyk was living and training in England earlier this week but flew back to his home country following claims that he had run away from the fight.
Another athlete that protested was Fedor Smolov. Smolov is a Russian soccer player for Dynamo Moscow. Almost immediately after the Russian invasion began Smolov posted on his Instagram a black square with the caption of “No to war” followed by emojis of a broken heart and the Ukrainian flag. This was surprising that it was a Russian athlete that was one of the first to protest the actions of President Putin despite Russia being his home.
This looks like the Russian invasion of Ukraine may just be the beginning, but the impact it has already had and will continue to have on sports around the world is mind-blowing.
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