Russia delays decision on Asian football move
The Russian Football Union (RFU) has delayed a vote on leaving European governing body UEFA for its Asian counterpart, but says a decision will be made by the end of the year.
The RFU’s executive committee had been due to vote on the issue on Tuesday, following discussions at a meeting last week. However, the organization announced that the decision had been postponed.
“The RFU has decided to postpone the executive committee’s vote on withdrawing from UEFA and moving to the AFC [the Asian Football Confederation],” a statement said.
“The postponement is due to the need for additional consultations related to the potential transition of Russia to the AFC. It is planned that the vote will take place by December 31, 2022.”
Russian football officials have been mulling a move to Asian jurisdiction after UEFA and FIFA imposed bans on all Russian teams from their competitions following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.
The sanctions deprived the Russian men’s national team of the chance to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and Russia has already been removed from the qualification process for the UEFA 2024 European Championships.
Russian teams are also banned from prestigious UEFA club competitions such as the Champions League and Europa League.
RFU president Aleksandr Dyukov said last week that “we know all the strengths of European football” – but that his organization “does not see light at the end of the tunnel” regarding an end to the current bans.
Dyukov indicated that the AFC would be “ready to accept” Russia, and that a decision before the end of the year would allow Russia to join the Asian qualification rounds for the 2026 World Cup.
It was reported by Russian media this week that FIFA would not stand in the way of a Russian move to the AFC.
Honorary president Vyacheslav Koloskov suggested on Tuesday that the RFU had taken extra time before making a decision “to at least get guarantees that we would be accepted into the Asian Confederation.”
UEFA is said to be opposed to Russia leaving, despite the current sanctions.
