Russia postpones its decision to quit UEFA and join Asia

The Russian Sports Minister, Oleg Matitsin, recommended this Tuesday to the Russian Football Union (UFR) to agree on its entry into the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) with UEFA and FIFA.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
27 December 2022 Tuesday 11:33
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Russia postpones its decision to quit UEFA and join Asia

The Russian Sports Minister, Oleg Matitsin, recommended this Tuesday to the Russian Football Union (UFR) to agree on its entry into the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) with UEFA and FIFA. "I believe that relations with global associations, European partners, cannot be broken while the new conditions of cooperation with the Asian confederation are being established. This takes time," Matitsin told Interfax.

The minister stressed that the decision is complex, so it must be "balanced" and "balanced", and take into account "the reality of cooperation with FIFA and UEFA."

The UFR postponed this Tuesday the vote to decide whether to resign from UEFA in favor of the AFC due to the exclusion of the national team and Russian clubs due to the military intervention in Ukraine. "The postponement is related to the need to hold additional consultations on Russia's potential entry into the AFC. The vote is scheduled for before December 31," the federation statement said.

The UFR executive committee had to make a final decision on Tuesday, since, according to its president, Alexandr Diukov, it is the only way to participate in the Asian qualifying phase for the 2026 World Cup.

Diukov acknowledges that "nobody has ever left UEFA", so there is no precedent or jurisprudence for cases like this, although he stressed that FIFA would not hinder Russia's entry into the AFC.

The Russian sports press has been against turning its back on UEFA both because the UFR would have closed the doors of European football for a long time and because of the losses in income, television audiences and interest among fans that matches between Russians would bring and asians.

One of the few men in football who has openly warned about the danger of change is the historic coach of Spartak Moscow and former Russian coach, Oleg Romántsev. "I am categorically against going to Asia (...). Leaving can mean not only a step back, but a road to nowhere," he said.