Russia will decide on Dec. 27 whether to leave UEFA and join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Russian Football Federation (UFR) president Alexandr Diukov said on Friday.
“Joining the AFC allows our national teams and clubs to return to official tournaments. The decision is complicated and controversial”admitted at a press conference Alexandr Diukov, who announced that the “final decision” will be taken next Tuesday at the meeting of the UFR’s executive committee.
Russian football has been banned from all international competitions due to the war in Ukraine, with the main team banned from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“Can we wait? How long can we wait? Did England wait five years? If they told us a specific time frame, we would vote and vote if we were willing to wait five years. But ten or fifteen years?”said the leader of the UFR.
According to Diukov, “the vast majority of clubs” in Russia support the move to the AFC, not least because UEFA, the body that regulates European football, will maintain sanctions against Russian football as long as the conflict in Ukraine continues .
“We don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. At this point, the AFC is willing to accept us. Until now, no one has been willing to give us a written guarantee, but they are willing to study our candidacy. The chance that they accept us is more than great”stressed Diukov, adding that he knows FIFA “will not oppose” the move to the AFC.
The official stressed that the decision must be made by December 31, as the only option for Russia is to participate in the qualifying phase for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“A few days delay in making a decision means national football could lose four years”explains Diukov, who has already received the approval of Russia’s Sports Minister, Oleg Matitsin.
At the same time, Diukov denied that if he decides in favor of Asia, the doors of UEFA will be closed “forever”, although he admitted that Russia will not be able to return to Europe as soon as they want.
The Russian team played its last official game a year ago, when it lost to Croatia, a defeat that condemned it to the World Cup play-offs, which it was never able to play due to the military invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, the team led by Valeri Karpin has played only three friendlies since September against Central Asian teams: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Source: DN
