April 3 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino (pictured) has called on Russia to be allowed to return to the international game if a peace deal can be worked out with Ukraine.
In his speech at the UEFA Congress in Belgrade, Infantino, who had flown into Serbia from Los Angeles, appealed for Russia’s return as he delivered a message of unity.
He said: “As talks are going on for peace in Ukraine, I hope we can soon move to the next page – bring back Russia in the football landscape, because this would mean that everything is solved.
“That’s what we have to cheer for. That’s what we have to pray for, because that is what football is about. It’s not about dividing.”
In a shifting geopolitical landscape, the return of Russia is increasingly being discussed in the game’s corridors of power.
Last month Danish Football Association (DBU) president Jesper Møller, a UEFA executive committee member, said that FIFA and UEFA were interested in overturning the ban that prevents Russian clubs and the Russian national team from competing in their competitions.
The DBU, like other football bodies, is also looking at the position of the International Olympic Committee and how newly-elected chair Kirsty Coventry will address the Russian issue.
However, at the UEFA executive committee on Wednesday, Russia was not on the agenda, while at Congress, Russia’s representative, Alexander Dyukov, stood down as a member of the executive committee. He served on the body despite being sanctioned by several governments following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
Infantino’s words followed a lengthy speech by Zoran Laković, UEFA’s national associations director, at the recent congress of the Russian Football Union (RFU), where Dyukov won re-election as chair of the union.
“I hope that this year Russian sport, including the national football team, will finally return to where it was before this situation,” said Laković. “They will return to the European sports family.”
After the invasion of Ukraine, UEFA and FIFA kicked Russia out of the global game when Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic refused to play them.
In 2023 UEFA attempted to allow Russian U17 teams to play again, but that policy split the executive committee as well as the membership.
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