Football is braced as Russia face Olympic axe
WORLD CUP hosts Russia will officially be confirmed as a pariah sporting nation this week when the IOC announces the punishment for their state-doping programme — a ban from next year’s Winter Olympics.
It is possible some Russians will be allowed to compete under a neutral flag, under certain conditions, although even that outcome would provoke outrage in the Kremlin.
The decision will have repercussions for FIFA, heaping fresh pressure on football’s world governing body to take action against senior football figures in Russia for their role in doping, not least Russian deputy prime minister Vitaly Mutko.
It seems certain the IOC will, at some point soon, formally rule that Mutko had personal involvement in the doping programme.
It has been documented by whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov in diaries judged by the IOC to be authentic and credible.
The involvement of Mutko’s sports ministry between 2010 and 2015 has already been cited within detailed decision documents relating to bans for Russian sportsmen judged to have doped at the Sochi Winter Olympics they hosted back in 2014.
Mutko’s involvement is expected to be explicitly confirmed when the IOC’s Schmid Commission, which is examining allegations of ‘institutionalised doping’ in Russia, publishes its findings.
The problem for FIFA in credibility terms is that Mutko led Russia’s successful bid to stage the 2018 World Cup and remains president of the