ASTANA: European federation UEFA has indicated it is ready to deal with the Crimea issue on a practical basis and would not be striking any political position writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Last week Vitaly Mutko, the Russian Sports Minister, claimed that world federation FIFA had cleared the transfer of Crimea’s two top clubs, PFC Sevastopol and Tavriya Simferopol, to the Russian premier league.

This was later denied by FIFA but UEFA president Michel Platini, speaking ater the European federation’s congress in Kazakhstan, indicated a readiness to work with such an eventuality.

He said: “This is not yet a topic for us [in UEFA] because no-one has got in touch with us. We haven’t received anything from the national associations. The Ukraine and Russian association want matches to finish as the [league] competitions are currently oragnised.

“During these couple of months there will be negotiations under way between them and many things can happen, things can change in many ways  politically speaking. It will depend in the situation. Right now we are not aware of the details.”

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