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UEFA Orders Change to Ukraine Football Jersey


FILE - Ukraine's Ruslan Malinovskiy wears the newly introduced national team jersey emblazoned with a map of Ukraine that includes Russia-annexed Crimea, during an international friendly match against Cyprus, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, June 7, 2021.
FILE - Ukraine's Ruslan Malinovskiy wears the newly introduced national team jersey emblazoned with a map of Ukraine that includes Russia-annexed Crimea, during an international friendly match against Cyprus, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, June 7, 2021.

Soccer’s governing body in Europe, UEFA, ruled Thursday that Ukraine can keep a map that includes Crimea on its jerseys, but must remove part of a slogan that it said has military connotations.

Russia had filed complaints with UEFA about the jersey that Ukraine will wear at the 24-nation European Championships that begin Friday.

Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014 in a move that has not been recognized by the international community.

UEFA said Ukraine must remove the slogan “Glory to the heroes” that appears on the inside of the jersey’s collar.

A second slogan, “Glory to Ukraine,” is allowed to remain.

UEFA said it previously approved “Glory to Ukraine” but it found after further analysis the combination of the two slogans had “historic and militaristic significance.”

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