Updated: March 7, 2014 1:57 p.m.
A pair of Republican Senators on Friday amid the crisis in Ukraine wrote a letter to the head of FIFA asking that Russia be barred from the upcoming World Cup.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Sens. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Dan Coats (R-IN) asked FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter to suspend Russia’s membership in the international soccer organization, and to strip Russia’s right to host the 2018 World Cup. To support their argument, they cited FIFA’s decision to bar then-Yugoslavia from the 1992 European Championship and the 1994 World Cup.
“Since Russia has similarly displayed a brazen disrespect for fundamental principles of FIFA and international law, I hope you will agree that it doesn’t deserve the honor of either hosting the World Cup or participating in one,” the senators wrote.
Correction: This post originally said Russia was slated to host the World Cup in 2014. It is scheduled to host the tournament in 2018.
