UEFA Appears Prepared to Allow League in Crimea

MOSCOW — Soccer officials in Crimea have said that European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, has approved the creation of a new league on the disputed peninsula, dragging UEFA’s awkward position over the Ukraine crisis into prominence again and aggravating yet another political headache for international soccer authorities.

Georgii A. Ilyakov, a representative of Crimea’s soccer association, told a Crimean newspaper on Thursday that the association would establish an eight-team league under UEFA and that it was likely to start in August.

UEFA officials said the announcement was premature but broadly correct. Frantisek Laurinec, an official leading UEFA’s commission on Crimea, said that no final…