UEFA president Michel Platini has dismissed calls to prohibit Russia from participating at the Brazil World Cup as he believes it would be a travesty for the players who worked so hard to qualify for the finals in Brazil.
Ukrainian officials and Western diplomats accuse Russia of sending thousands of troops into the Crimea region in the past week, which Russia has denied.
According to the BBC, a European Union (EU) official had allegedly told the media that his organization might try to expel Russia from the 2014 finals, although Platini rejected the idea and called on the EU to realise the absurdity of expelling 11 players from the World Cup.
Platini further said that if something like this happened, then it is better to shut down the embassy in the country, adding that it is always better to go and explain what one thinks is good rather than boycott.
Speaking from personal experience of how politics is never far away from sport, Platini said that it is better to explain that one is not happy like he did when he pondered over playing in Argentina in the 1978 World Cup as a French international.
The report mentioned that there were calls from various quarters to boycott the finals of that tournament because of the repressive measures being undertaken by the military junta, which took charge in a coup in March 1976 and would rule until 1983.