Aleksandar Vucic has promised Russian teams the "best conditions" if they move matches to serbia
Russian football and basketball teams would receive "the best conditions" if they move matches to Serbia because of rules imposed by governing bodies such as UEFA and FIFA, the country's President, Aleksandar Vucic, has said.
Sports chiefs are under pressure to stop teams from hosting matches in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in Champions League organizers UEFA moving the final of the competition from St. Petersburg to Paris.
Following an emergency meeting, UEFA announced on Friday that Russian and Ukrainian teams will be required to play home games on neutral territory for the foreseeable future.
Russia's World Cup qualifying playoff semifinal opponents Poland, who are due to visit Moscow for the crunch game on March 24, have appealed to the governing bodies to switch the venue for the game.
The Polish Football Association co-signed its letter with footballing authorities in Sweden and the Czech Republic, who will play a concurrent semifinal to decide who will be due to travel to Russia for a final match to decide which nation will be heading to the finals in Qatar in November and December.
There have been calls for Euroleague basketball teams to boycott matches against Russia, and the Netherlands Basketball Federation has even abandoned a 2023 World Cup qualification match against Russia that was scheduled for Almere on Sunday.
"Clubs from some countries do not want to go to Moscow, Novgorod, Krasnodar, Kuban and other cities," Vucic said via Blic when he was asked about the offer to host games involving Russian teams.
"I really don't know [whether] there is anyone's initiative, FIBA [International Basketball Federation] or UEFA, [to do this].
"If everyone agrees with that, we are good hosts and if we can help solve some problems, we have no problem with that.
"We offered them the best conditions and we would guarantee the safety of both formal hosts and guests.
"Serbia has always been a good host and we [would] never interfere in such things... [if] someone asks us to be the hosts... we would accept it but we never push ourselves in such [matters] because we just know how small we are and that these are issues for the great powers."
Russia have one remaining team in UEFA club competitions after Zenit St. Petersburg were controversially knocked out of the Europa League at Spanish side Real Betis on Thursday.
Spartak Moscow are due to face German side RB Leipzig in a two-legged Europa League tie in March.
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February 25, 2022 at 11:46PM
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Serbian President makes pledge to Russian sports teams
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