Infantino faces Russia row and Trump unease as he addresses Uefa

Gianni Infantino is expected to address Uefa’s annual congress in Brussels, where relations between football’s major governing bodies have been unusually fractious. Having argued last year for Russia’s return to competition and recently suggesting the ban be reassessed for age-group teams, he faces little chance of winning support in Europe.

Uefa’s executive committee is unlikely to table a vote to readmit Russia, and several national associations question how the subject can be seriously raised given nothing has improved since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; there is concern he might try to press the case at Fifa’s congress in Vancouver on 30 April.

The visit may prove more revealing for what is said in public and on the sidelines than for any formal decisions.

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