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FIFA, UEFA may decide on Russia’s participation by yearend, says Russian football chief

Alexander Dyukov noted that a number of decisions decisions by the IOC ensured movement in one direction, namely towards the lifting of restrictions and prohibitions for the entire Russian sport

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. Russian national football teams and professional clubs could be allowed to return to international play by the end of 2025, Alexander Dyukov, the president of the Russian Football Union (RFU), told journalists on Wednesday.

"I believe that there are prerequisites [for the return of Russian teams to the international arena]," he said "I hope that relevant decisions will be made by the end of the year."

"There have been no decisions this year on on the admission of our teams by FIFA and UEFA," Dyukov said. "But at the end of the year, we witnessed a significant step forward in resolving the issue of returning all of the Russian sports [federations] to the official international arena."

"I am referring to the decision of the IOC [the International Olympic Committee] and its recommendation to international sports federations," he continued.

"Prior to that, there had been a number of decisions throughout the year that concerned mainly individual sports," Dyukov stated. "But these decisions ensured movement in one direction, namely towards the lifting of restrictions and prohibitions for the entire Russian sport."

"We hope that starting next year, international football regulators would follow the IOC recommendations to make decisions that would clear our teams for participation in official international competitions," Dyukov added.

RFU Secretary General Maxim Mitrofanov told TASS on December 25 that the Russian national football team was in work to schedule two away friendly matches next June against countries that qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

"We are planning for the Russian national team to play two matches on home turf in March and two away matches outside Russia against teams that qualified and are preparing for the tournament [2026 World Cup]. We are looking at a number of teams here," Mitrofanov emphasized.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. The matches will be staged in 16 cities across the three countries. This will be the first FIFA World Cup featuring 48 teams instead of the previous 32-team format.

Russia’s football ban

The world’s governing football body, FIFA, announced on February 28, 2022, that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from participating in FIFA tournaments.

In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision regarding 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.

Russian football chief Dyukov says outgoing year 2025 was success for national teams

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