Al-Mishal: Russia’s move to the AFC is subject to careful study

The head of the Saudi Football Association, Yasser Al-Mishal, told Reuters that the approval of Russia’s entry into the AFC is only linked to a comprehensive study of the results. And the international federations (FIFA) and the European Union (UEFA) punished Russia by preventing its teams from participating in all competitions after the invasion of Ukraine last February, and with the continuation of the ban, speculation increased about the next step of the Russian Federation.

And Alexander Dyukov, President of the Russian Federation, acknowledged that switching from UEFA to the Asian Confederation, which includes 47 countries, is a possible option to allow the Russian national team and clubs to compete in international competitions. Russia won the support of the Olympic Council of Asia last week after it offered athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the Asian qualifiers to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics if they were excluded from the European qualifiers. Al-Mishal stressed that this transformation is subject to a comprehensive evaluation by the AFC.

Al-Mishal, who became a member of the FIFA Council yesterday, added, “This needs a really careful study. What can this add to the continent? What benefits will accrue to Asian football from this step? In recent years, we have not seen such a transformation, so it requires a lot of in-depth studies.” To assess whether it makes sense to do so, if the request is genuine.”

Russian Alexey Sokorin, a former FIFA Council member and head of the 2018 World Cup Organizing Committee, was present at the AFC General Assembly yesterday, which increases speculation about discussions between Russia and Asian officials. But Al-Mishal said it was just speculation. “Four members of the FIFA Council also attended as guests.

I have not heard anything about any intentions of Russia to take this step, but if it becomes official, the relevant authorities, whether the AFC, FIFA or UEFA, will deal with it.
But to be honest, I did not hear anything about it and this is just speculation from the media.” And transfers of countries are very rare between federations, and Kazakhstan left the Asian Federation in 2000 to become a member of UEFA after two years, while Australia moved from Oceania to Asia in 2006. And it did not receive a step Australia is accepted by some in Asia, especially after it has since acquired one of the continent’s seats in the World Cup.