The Russian Football Association RFS has decided against leaving UEFA and moving to the Asian Football Confederation AFC.
“Russia is Europe,” said RFS Vice President Ahmed Aydamirov, according to the state news agency TASS: “We have decided not to move to Asia, everyone unanimously supported the decision.”
Russian clubs and the national team are currently excluded from UEFA competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. In 2023, the national team played primarily against teams from Asia such as Iran, Iraq and Qatar. The Russian Chess Federation, however, joined the Asian umbrella organization at the beginning of the year.
Acceptance of FIFA questionable
A move to the AFC would have had financial consequences, especially for Russian clubs, as participation in the Champions League would also be ruled out in the future. It was also questionable whether the world association FIFA would have accepted the change.
In September, UEFA decided at least to re-admit Russian youth teams to its competitions.