Scrambling to find meaningful sanctions that would punish Russia over its Ukraine policy without unduly punishing the rest of Europe, some Western politicians have lately talked up boycotting the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Though chances of a politically motivated stay-away from the tournament are slim, Russian soccer officials are more fearful of the consequences of Moscow’s incorporating Crimea into the Russian Federation. Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg last week called the boycott idea “a very potent political and symbolic sanction,” adding, “If there’s one thing that Vladimir Putin cares about, as far as I can see, it’s his sense of status.” And last week the Spanish newspaper El País reported that the European Commission was considering a boycott of the 2018 World Cup as part of extended sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Speaking on the record, however, Germany — the EU’s most powerful member — struck a different tone. A boycott was not being considered, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said, adding that with the World Cup in Russia still four years away, it was not a question for discussion at this time. A German Foreign Ministry spokesman adopted a similar line. Former U.K. Sports Minister Richard Caborn also warned on Friday that a boycott of 2018 would be an empty gesture. “The sporting boycott of South Africa worked because there was a total consensus between sports and politicians. But there is not over Russia.” There seems to be little popular consensus either. A Facebook page calling for a boycott of Russia 2018 has 1,246 likes, and a related petition from March gathered 6,019 signatures.

‘The sporting boycott of South Africa worked because there was a total consensus between sports and politicians. But there is not over Russia.’ Richard Caborn former sports minister, U.K.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who announced Monday that he would seek a fifth four-year term as FIFA’s president, poured cold water on the boycott idea. “There are already some voices coming out about 2018 talking about a boycott,” he said. “A boycott in sport never has had any benefit. Let us wait and see the geopolitical situation, and FIFA shall not intervene with politics. But for the time being, we are working with Russia.” Soccer authorities in Moscow, however, may be less concerned about politically motivated calls for sanctions from Brussels than they are about the decisions by their government potentially putting the Russian Football Union (RFU) outside FIFA’s rules. There were barely 1,000 people in Yalta’s Stadion Avanhard on Aug. 12 to watch visitors Sochi beat the home team Zhemchuzhina in the Russian Cup. But that match, together with another the same day between teams from Simferopol and Sevastopol, have set off alarms in the very heart of the RFU over the potential for losing the 2018 World Cup. Yalta, like Simferopol and Sevastopol, are in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula unilaterally annexed by Russia from Ukraine last March. The statutes of FIFA’s European affiliate, the UEFA, generally — with a handful of exceptions in the U.K. — bar teams belonging to one recognized national federation from participating in another’s competitions. Although all three clubs were admitted to the RFU in July, the UEFA still recognizes them as belonging to the Ukrainian soccer federation. An angry letter of complaint from the Ukrainian football federation to the UEFA and FIFA last month demanded that the RFU be punished for incorporating the Crimean teams, raising alarms in Moscow.

‘A boycott in sport never has had any benefit. Let us wait and see the geopolitical situation, and FIFA shall not intervene with politics.’ Sepp Blatter president, FIFA

The 47,000-seat Spartak stadium is designed to meet FIFA requirements for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Maxim Shipenkov / EPA