MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, leaders from 19 National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) urged in a joint statement to ban Russia from competing and hosting any international sports events over "institutionalized doping violations" in Russian sports.
"It will be a consensus within FIFA. But I would say that if … a number of important teams would decide, for example, they will not participate in competitions in Russia then that could be the beginning of the possibility," Pound told R-Sport.
At the same time, Pound said he was not "close to FIFA" so he couldn’t know what the organization was thinking.
Russia will host the FIFA World Cup from 14 June to 14 July, 2018.
As a result, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned Russian athletes from taking part in international competitions including the 2016 Summer Olympics. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) later banned all Russian Paralympic athletes from the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Games.
On December 9, 2016, the WADA independent commission issued the second part of the report on alleged Russian doping abuse, revealing manipulations by athletes in 30 sporting disciplines.
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