Russia’s football exile is ending – but Europe may not survive the comeback

FIFA is ready to bring Russian teams back. The real battle won’t be on the pitch, but over money, politics, and boycotts. I didn’t watch a single full game of this FIFA World Cup and was asleep before the final kicked off on Sunday. It would have been awkward watching a match wanting both teams to lose. The best things to witness at this jamboree were the mindbending, moral amnesia of the anti-Trump and pro-Palestine mob, and the whining of sports media and pundits at the length of the half-time show. Even Granny grabber Wayne Rooney criticized the performance of a 70-year-old woman [Madonna]. Then again, who’d know better than the man who has a penchant for women twice his age. It was off the field that the best news, for many, came and it opened a way for Russian football to come in from the cold.BackgroundRussian football had been under the US- and UK-led pogrom against Russian sports since 2010. Triggered by receiving the hosting rights for the FIFA 2018 World Cup, Russia got caught in the battle for control of the lucrative anti-doping industry. After a series of major doping scandals on their watch and their federal funding under threat, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) batt...