MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. The Executive Board of the Russian Football Union (RFU) ruled on Friday to exclude Belarusian footballers from the list of foreign athletes, often called as the legionnaires, allowed to play for Russia’s football clubs, RFU’s press service said in a statement.

The Russian Sports Ministry proposed in November 2018 that a number of Belarusian players, allowed to play for clubs of the Russian national football tournaments, must not be regulated by the current quota regarding a permitted amount of foreign players or ‘legionnaires.’

Relevant amendments were first introduced and then published on February 13 in the Russian Sports Ministry’s decree on the participation of Belarusian players in Russian football tournaments.

"As of February 22, 2019, the list of legionnaires does not include foreign residents, who are citizens of the Union State founded by the Russian Federation and Belarus, on condition that such citizens have the right to play for football teams of the Republic of Belarus," the statement from the RFU reads.

The Russian Premier League (RPL) is currently exploiting the ‘6+5’ quota, which means that not more than six foreign players could be simultaneously playing for one club on the field during the match time.

Early this year, the RPL voiced its support to change the quota of foreign players allowed to play in the Russian championship to ‘8+17’ formula.

The ‘8+17’ formula means that each RPL club can include not more than eight foreign players in the extended roster before the season. The Executive Board of the Russian Football Union (RFU) earlier ruled that the limit on foreign players, often called as the legionnaires, in the Russian football clubs will be changed starting with the 2020/21 season either to the ‘8+17’ formula or to ‘7+18’.

In July 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law regulating the number of foreign athletes allowed to participate in sports competitions in Russia.