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The Kremlin responds after petition to disband the national team gets thousands of signatures

Russia did not have a tournament to remember at Euro 2016, and their fans were less than thrilled...
Newstalk
Newstalk

14.33 18 Jul 2016


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The Kremlin responds after pet...

The Kremlin responds after petition to disband the national team gets thousands of signatures

Newstalk
Newstalk

14.33 18 Jul 2016


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Russia did not have a tournament to remember at Euro 2016, and their fans were less than thrilled with having to watch their team turn in a trio of poor performances. 

The highlight of their campaign was a draw with England, who were in turn dumped out of the competition by Iceland, so it should come as little surprise that fans don't consider that much of an achievement.

In the wake of their exit, Coach Leonid Slutsky told the media that he met with the players and, after long discussions, they all came to the same, unanimous conclusion. 

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Fans agreed with that assessment, and registered a petition with change.org to disband the team so that they wouldn't have to suffer any further embarrassment. That move has generated over 930,000 signatures, and forced the Russian government to respond. 

They have noted that the petition was received and will be up for consideration by the Minister of Sports, who will in turn tell the person who lodged it whether or not it has been successful. 

They have some bigger problems on their plate at the moment, as the entire Russian delegation faces being banned from the Olympics in Rio after the publication of a report from the World Anti-Doping Agency, so they may take a while to respond.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm for the team at the moment, the country will still have to get through the World Cup in 2018 as hosts, so it's unlikely that the side will be scrapped before then. 

Either way, they might struggle to sell tickets to their next home game...


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