The Russian Football Federation, RFS, has decided not to leave UEFA for the time being, RFS President Alexandre Dyukov said on Friday.
The Russian federation wants to start a working group with UEFA to organise a return to international competition, Dyukov added at a press conference in Moscow.
Russia has been barred from international soccer for 10 months now, following the invasion of Ukraine. According to Dyukov, a working group should enable both sides to achieve a speedy international return of Russian national and club teams.
The Russian federation president wants to invite representatives from UEFA, world football federation FIFA, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as soon as possible to participate in the working group.
Dyukov hopes Russia will be able to participate in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Russian Football Federation had discussed a possible withdrawal from UEFA at its Executive Committee last Friday. A group within the Russian federation wanted to join Asia and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Dyukov did not completely rule out such a switch on Friday. “But that comes into the picture only in case negotiations with UEFA fail,” he said. “We want to show that the bridges with UEFA have not been blown. We want to find solutions to restore our relations. Politics obviously has an impact on soccer, but we will see how much.”
Because of the current sanctions against Moscow, the Russian national team has played only three friendly matches since the start of the war, all against former Soviet republics with membership in the AFC: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
