UEFA Executive Committee Approves Creation Of New Football League In Crimea

UEFA's top official responsible for Crimea said that the governing body "plans to set up a league in the disputed territory," according to the AP. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March '14, but UEFA ruled in December that Crimean clubs could not take part in the Russian league, saying it would administer the peninsula as a ''special zone.'' Frantisek Laurinec, who led a delegation to the region Thursday, said, ''The UEFA executive committee has approved the idea of creating a football league in Crimea." Laurinec said it was too early to set a ''precise timeframe'' for the creation of the new league and that ''any concrete decisions'' would be discussed later. Laurinec, a former head of the Slovakian FA, "did not specify when UEFA had decided to create the league." The head of one of two regional football federations in Crimea, Alexander Krasilnikov, "was quoted by Russian media as saying the new league could start play in August if UEFA backed plans drawn up by local clubs" (AP, 3/6).