In response to UEFA’s sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine, the Russian Football Federation is considering switching from a European confederation to an Asian confederation.
“I think it’s time to seriously consider a possible move to the Asian football confederation,” Dmitry Pirog, vice-chairman of the Federation Sports Committee, told Russian state television Match TV.
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Pirog, a former professional boxer, said this because it is unclear how long UEFA’s sanctions against Russian teams and the national team will last.
As part of the sanctions imposed by UEFA, Russian clubs will not be able to participate in Champions League, Europa League and Conference League events. Also, the country cannot host competitions organized by the confederation and the national team has been banned from World Cup qualifiers. The women’s team is also replaced by Portugal, outside of the 2022 Euro finals, and will not play in the European qualifiers for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
But the idea of changing the confederation is already meeting resistance in the country. The former president of the Russian Federation, Vyacheslav Koloskov, rejected the decision. “If we go to Asia, we can never go back to Europe and that would be the death of Russian football,” he said.
source: Noticias
