There will be no transition
The Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU) unanimously rejected the idea of moving to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and preferred to remain in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) system.
The decision stems from the fact that the International Football Federation (FIFA) does not give any guarantees that even in the event of transition, the national team and Russian clubs will be able to participate in the international competitions from which they were suspended. March 2022 due to military operation in Ukraine.
It doesn’t matter which confederation you belong to if there is no opportunity to participate in the main world tournaments anywhere.
It is also unknown whether Russia will be allowed to participate at least in the internal tournaments of the Asian Confederation. Thus, Russian Olympic athletes were initially invited to the Asian Games, but were ultimately not allowed to compete due to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ban.
“The option of changing the confederation will not disappear. Match TV quoted RFU president Alexander Dyukov as saying, “We can take advantage of this opportunity, if not this year, then next year.”
According to him, there is no guarantee that the AFC will accept the Russian Football Union, despite the support of many countries. The attitude of Asian national federations whose governments oppose Russian policies may be a problem. For example, we can talk about Japan, South Korea and Australia, which play in the AFC, the three leading teams of the confederation.
“The transition itself will not mean that we will automatically be able to participate in official matches. For this to happen, FIFA’s support is very important for us. For this, the ban on participation in World Championship qualifiers must be lifted,” Dyukov said. — Football officials are very friendly towards us. But there is a political level; The situation there is different. 26 countries from Asia supported some political decisions taken against Russia. “There are countries that do not want to see us in the AFC.”
“There is better quality and more money in Europe”
Former Russian national football team striker Dmitry Bulykin agreed with Dyukov in a conversation with socialbites.ca.
“I agree with the RFU: there is no particular point in moving. They can ban us everywhere, but then we cannot return to the European league. In terms of level, quality and money, UEFA is, of course, much more promising than the Asian Confederation. “I think now if you ask anyone about clubs in Asia, they won’t even name the team Cristiano Ronaldo plays for,” says Bulykin.
— There is a very complex migration procedure and a lot of approvals are required. Therefore, many more questions arise. Will they be allowed to play in the Champions League? What about national teams? Of course it all depends on this. “I would wait a little longer, especially since all the leaders said that the special military operation should be completed first, and then it would be clear where and how we will play.”
Bulykin noted that after the start of SVO, some Asian teams, like in Europe, may oppose Russia’s participation in the competition.
“The same may happen in Asia. There is little point in switching for now. And the leadership of the Russian Football Union is struggling to organize friendly matches so that our team does not get lost and does not lose game practice,” said Bulykin.
“There is no point in going to Asia”
The news of the rejection of the move to the AFC caused positive reactions in the Russian football community.
Thus, UEFA vice-president Vyacheslav Koloskov, former president of the RFU and honorary president of the Russian Football Union, noted that the executive committee listened to a commission that dealt with the issue of transfers to the AFC and did not provide any information. clear solution.
“There is a positive message from UEFA, they allow us to appoint referees, especially for European tournaments, youth teams play according to the development program, a decision has been made to recruit our youth to U-17 tournaments, but there are technical problems with this. Asia does not show any real interest,” quotes TASS Koloskov .
“I don’t see any hope in Asia. Russian football has always been associated with Europe, although geographically we can be linked to both,” Sport Express quotes former national team goalkeeper Ruslan Nigmatullin as saying. — To tell the truth, it is not a fact that they will wait for us there with open arms. Therefore, we expect the UEFA ban to be lifted and then we can reach the European championship.”
Match against Serbia
Dyukov announced to reporters that the Russian national team will play its next friendly match against Serbia. This will be one of the strongest controversy matches for Valery Karpin’s team since the beginning of the SVO and the suspension.
The meeting was held in March in St. It is planned to be held in St. Petersburg, but it still requires the approval of UEFA and FIFA. There are no legal obstacles to this match.
At the same time, the RFU president recalled the cancellation of the match with Bosnia and Herzegovina, stating that the situation is different now: then there was only a verbal agreement, but now there is a signed contract.