Russian football will seek to leave UEFA to play in another association

Russian football, which is banned from all international competitions due to the military crackdown in Ukraine, will announce on December 27 whether it will withdraw from the tournament. UEFA for Join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Registration in the Asian Football Confederation Our teams and clubs will be allowed to return to official tournaments. The decision is complex and controversial,” Alexander Dyukov, President of the Football Association, admitted today at a press conference Russia (UFR).

The UFR’s executive committee will meet next Tuesday to make a “final decision” on the issue that has divided national football.

“Can we wait? How long can we wait? England have waited five years? If they tell us a fixed deadline, we will organize a ballot and vote if we are willing to wait five years. But 10 or 15?”

This was confirmed by Dyukov, a senior official of the Gazprom consortium “The vast majority of clubs” are in favor of moving to the AFC, Although he realized the danger of some players changing their nationality for the same reason.

“We don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. At the moment, the AFC is willing to accept us into their midst. Now no one is willing to give us a written guarantee, but they are willing to study our application. The probability that they will accept us is greater than their own,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dyukov who attended Qatar World Cup 2022confirmed that UEFA had made it clear in its consultations with the UFR that it “does not at present see reasons to review its decision” to exclude Russian football and Wait for the political situation to stabilize.

He added that the most UEFA could go was to allow the lower classes of the national team to participate in international tournaments, although there were “no guarantees” that that would also thrive.

“We know that FIFA We will not object if we move to the AFC.”

He pointed out that the decision must be taken before December 31, since then It is the only option to be able to participate in the qualifying stage for the 2026 World Cup, To be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

“A delay of a few days in making a decision would mean that national football could lose four years,” explained Dyukov, who had already received the go-ahead from Sports Minister Oleg Matitsyn.

At the same time, he denied that if he decides in favor of Asia, the doors of UEFA will close “forever”, although he admitted that Russia will not be able to return to Europe as it would like.

The Honorary President of the Union of Socialist Republics, Vyacheslav Koloskov, warned today that resignation from UEFA entails ‘big stakes’ And that it is not certain that the AFC will automatically allow Russia to participate in the World Cup qualifying stage.

Some Russian football legends like Alexander Mostovoy They have spoken out against it and so have the agents, the coaches and the deputies, But for others, like Dmitry Sychev or Agor Kolyvanov, the most important thing is competition.

the Russia national team He played his last competitive match a year ago when he lost by a minimum in Croatia, a defeat that condemned him to a World Cup play-off, which he never played due to interference in Ukraine.

Since then, the team led by Valery Karpin has managed to play only three friendlies against Central Asian teams since September: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

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