MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/. Russian football referees will not be officiating any matches at the upcoming Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Championship, CAFA’s press office spokesman told TASS on Thursday.

"Russian referees will not be officiating at the CAFA tournament in June," the spokesperson said. "We usually invite referees who represent the countries participating in the tournament."

RFU Secretary General Maxim Mitrofanov stated in mid-April that the Russian Football Union (RFU) was ready to consider the possibility of having national referees officiate the upcoming Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Championship if a relevant request is submitted.

Mitrofanov announced to journalists on April 18 that the Russian national football team had decided against participating in the 2023 CAFA Championship.

The CAFA Championship will be held in Kyrgyzstan’s capital of Bishkek and Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, from June 9-21. The tournament will bring together the national teams of Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. One more national team from Asia is supposed to be invited.

CAFA was established in June 2014 and is one of five regional governing bodies within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). In addition to CAFA, the AFC also encompasses the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF), the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) and the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF).

On February 28, 2022, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) barred Russian clubs and teams from participating in international competitions due to the situation around Ukraine.

Since then, the Russian national football team has played five friendly matches, against Iran (1-1), Iraq (2-0), Kyrgyzstan (2-1), Tajikistan (0-0) and Uzbekistan (0-0).

Russian Football Union President Alexander Dyukov announced in late November 2022 that, in light of the barring of Russia’s national teams and football clubs from UEFA and FIFA competitions, the RFU was looking at joining the Asian Football Confederation.