The Russian football team invited to participate in a tournament
Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian football teams have been banned from European and FIFA competitions. Nevertheless, the Tajikistan Football Federation announced on Monday that the Russian men’s team could participate in the new Central Asian Football Federation (CAFA) regional tournament in June.
Russia would play alongside seven other national teams: the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Afghanistan, Iran and one other country yet to be revealed. . The matches are scheduled to take place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Established in 2014, CAFA is one of the five regional associations of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and is headquartered in Tajikistan. She held a women’s championship and a junior championship last year.
According to the Tajik Football Federation, Russia has already accepted the invitation for the men’s tournament in June. But the Russian Football Federation told state media: “We are currently discussing the possibility and conditions for the participation of the Russian national team in this tournament. »
This decision will revive the debate on a possible entry of Russia into the Asian Football Confederation, as the country seeks to reconnect with international competition. In January, Russian FA president Alexander Dyukov backtracked on his December threat to join the AFC after meeting with European football officials. No solution has been found yet. Mr Dyukov attended the AFC congress in Bahrain last month, where he met with its chairman, Sheikh Salman Al-Khalifa.
“We have good relations with the Russian federation and with the other European federations, and we are always in contact with the federations on all occasions”Al-Salman said after the meeting. “We want to serve the best interests of football and we strive to keep politics out of football. »
Russia’s men’s team have only played three international friendlies in 2022, against Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. She is due to meet Iran and Iraq later this month.
Most Olympic sports have excluded athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) initially recommended excluding them for security reasons, but now says that maintaining these restrictions would be discriminatory.
Last month, 35 countries signed a statement criticizing the IOC’s plan to allow Russians and Belarusians to resume competition ahead of qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics as neutral athletes without symbols nationals.