MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. President of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Alexander Dyukov voiced his disappointment on Friday that the Russian national team was not included in the preliminary draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

"Of course, it’s disappointing," Dyukov said. "But this isn’t news, because at the end of February 2022, the International Football Federation [FIFA] announced a decision to suspend the participation of the Russian national football team from international tournaments."

"Until the decision is reversed, our team will have no chance to participate in international competitions," he added.

According to a November 28 FIFA press office statement, the Russian national football team has been excluded from next month’s UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) qualifying draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The UEFA Preliminary Draw for the FIFA 2026 World Cup is scheduled to be held at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, on December 13, 2024.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The matches will be played in 16 cities across the three continents. For the first time, 48 teams will battle it out at the FIFA World Cup. At all previous World Cup's, only 32 teams competed.

Russia’s football ban

The International Association Football Federation (FIFA) announced on February 28, 2022 that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments.

In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision in regard to the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.

Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.

Since sanctions were introduced, the Russian national football squad has played a host of friendlies against other countries, namely against Kyrgyzstan (2-1), Tajikistan (0-0), Uzbekistan (0-0), Iran (1-1), Iraq (2-0), Cameroon (1-0), Kenya (2-2), Cuba (8-0), Serbia (4-0), Belarus 4-0 Vietnam (3-0), Brunei (11-0) and Syria (4-0).