A FIFA World Cup tournament without Russia, which was a presence at 11 previous tournaments, is what is in store when the desert nation of Qatar hosts the quadrennial event from November 21 to December 18. And that’s because Vladimir Putin decided to unleash his country’s military might on neighbouring Ukraine on the pretext that the latter’s cosying up to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military alliance posed a security threat to Russia.

Russia’s nonparticipation at the upcoming soccer extravaganza follows the suspension of the country’s national teams by FIFA, the Switzerland-headquartered world soccer governing body, which felt that no other measure would be adequate to punish Russia for its transgression in Ukraine. A similar fate has befallen Russian soccer clubs, with UEFA, the European equivalent of the Confederation of African Football, having decreed that the clubs will not be allowed to participate in any competitions it organises.

What’s more, the International Olympic Committee announced late last month that it had banned athletes from Russia and its ally, Belarus, from some international sports competitions, including soccer and ice hockey.

Soccer, that beautiful game with a 3.5-billion global following, is a real passion of mine. So, this piece will focus on the international isolation of Russian footballers in the wake of the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine, which, at the time of writing, had claimed many lives, with the casualties being mostly civilians. It had also displaced millions of people – both internally and beyond Ukraine’s borders – and had had serious ramifications for the two former Soviet republics and the rest of the world.

Weeks before Putin ordered Russian troops, replete with deadly military hardware, to pour into Ukraine, the suits at FIFA head office, in Zurich, had decided to banish Zimbabwe and Kenya from the international soccer fold, and the reason was government interference in the national football associations of the two African countries. Politics and sport should not mix, FIFA pontificated – despite protestations by the Zimbabwean authorities that the suspended officials of the Zimbabwe Football Association had serious criminal charges against them pending at the courts, including sexual harassment and financial fraud.

It is as clear as daylight that the issues in Russia/Ukraine are political in nature and have no bearing on sport whatsoever. So, is it okay for politics and sport to mix where non-African countries are concerned? Get me right, I do not condone Putin’s depredations in Ukraine; the international community should mete out the harshest punishment to him and his Kremlin associates. But what’s good for the goose must be good for the gander, and I say phansi with FIFA’s double standards. Some of the Russian soccer players ply their trade professionally; they deserve a chance to earn a living, just like anybody else.

Are the FIFA bosses oblivious of the ancient wisdom that sport is a unifying force? History tells us that in the eighth century before the Christian Era, when the Olympic Games started in Greece, warring cultures would stop their conflicts to participate in sports that celebrated the human body’s potential. In the process, they promoted respect, friendship and equality.

In fact, the so-called Olympic Truce not only protected Olympia, the venue of the ancient Olympic Games, from attack but also forbade any individual or government from interfering with anyone travelling to or from the Olympics.

So, instead of banning the Russian women’s soccer team from this year’s European Championship, in England, the soccer community should be facilitating their participation. And if it were up to me, Spartak Moscow, the remaining Russian club side in European competition, would be allowed to continue to compete in the Europa League. But the world’s soccer czars have different ideas. Ah me!