– The Norwegian Cup is an international sporting event and will be covered by a sports council decision calling for the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes, sports president Berit Kjøll wrote in an email to NTB on Thursday last week.

He then spoke about the decision from the Norwegian Cup to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from the football tournament in Ekebergsletta this summer.

On February 26, the NIF board decided that it wanted a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from international sports competitions. The decision stated, among other things:

«Russia’s attacks on the Ukrainian people and violations of international law require international condemnation and sanctions. Therefore, it is clear the opinion of the NIF that Russian and Belarusian athletes should not participate in international sporting events outside of Russia and Belarus, and that Russian and Belarusian sports leaders should be suspended from their international positions.

But does this also apply to children’s and youth sports?

Do a complete U-turn

The decision of the Norwegian Cup has been received massive criticismboth by politicians and a clear voice in sport.

Now the sports board has decided that children’s and youth sports will not be affected, as NRK experienced on Thursday morning. It was decided at a board meeting on Wednesday night.

– I am pleased that today we have made a decision that makes clear the goal of the Norwegian Sports Confederation for children and youth from all countries, and as far as possible, should be able to participate in play and sports activities, Kjøll wrote in an email to NRK.

Next, he explained why he suggested that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be banned from appearing in the Norwegian Cup.

– It seemed to me at the time that it was unnatural to challenge their decision without us discussing it separately on the sporting board. We had our first discussion on this topic on March 4, Kjøll said.

– I just have to admit that it goes really fast around the corner. My main focus is an international perspective. It’s not natural for me to go against the Norwegian Cup decision. Those are my views and comments, without us having a board meeting, he continued.

When the matter was raised, the President of Sport said they were starting a number of investigations into the sporting movement, authorities and various organizations focused on children and youth.

– We’ve done it precisely to take the right and good decisions we made at the sports board meeting that took place yesterday.

Can participate in the Norwegian Cup

Save the Children is among those critical of the exclusion of children and youth. They are now very happy with the reply message.

– The only cure has occurred in this case. We at Save the Children are very pleased that the sports council and sports president have turned around and are now welcoming children from Russia and Belarus, said Monica Sydgård, Save the Children’s Norway program leader.

The Norwegian Cup, for its part, is happy with the decision. They confirmed that teams from Russia and Belarus can now participate in the tournament.

– I think the NIF has taken it seriously, instead it has had some unintended consequences, the decisions they made. Then it has been a good process with everyone involved. Then they made a new decision today, I think it was mature and well done,” said Norwegian Cup general manager Pål Trælvik and added:

– Then they added an element that was also about the safety of these children. Then I worked with the police and several other people to organize events to make it safe and comfortable for them to be here.

NFF adopts boycott at top level

On Friday last week, NIF sent out a new press release. Thus after a statement to Kjøll in which he supported exclusion from the Norwegian Cup.

The press release stated, among other things, that they would take a closer look at children’s and youth sports.

“We believe that sport participation for children from war zones and those covered by the decision deserves to be discussed thoroughly and both internally in the sport and with players outside the sport in the future.” he said in a press release.

Today, Kjøll said the following:

– Against this backdrop, the Norwegian Sports Confederation embarked on a thorough process in which we invited a broad and good dialogue with various actors in sport, authorities, organizations and our Nordic neighbors to discuss the matter. This process started this week, and will continue in the future in line with ongoing developments in Ukraine.

In the football parliament this weekend, the Norwegian Football Association adopted a resolution on the situation in Ukraine. It’s specifically mentioned that this applies to the top level:

“In solidarity with Ukraine, it is inappropriate to play matches against teams from Russia and Belarus. This includes matches at the senior level, as well as the national team by age »he said resolution.