Russian Football Union may give up UEFA to join the Asian Football Confederation – AFC, according to reputable sources.
FIFA and UEFA have issued a statement banning Russian clubs and the Russian national football team from competing in international and European competitions. Faced with that, the Russian Football Union filed a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against this ban.
Not only that, Russian Football Union may consider giving up its UEFA membership to join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). They saw the danger of being isolated in Europe for many years.
It is not uncommon for a country located in a continent to apply to join the football federation of another continent:
- Kazakhstan is playing in UEFA,
- Australia has abandoned the Oceania Football Confederation to join Asia,
- Or Guyana is a member of the Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football – CONCACAF.
Therefore, Russian Football Union wants to “follow” Australia to join Asia. However, this may be difficult due to FIFA, because AFC is also a member of FIFA. The FIFA Council has the power to member continental confederations. They agreed to eliminate Russia on a global scale, recently.
The case of Israel is quite similar to that of Russia. In 1974, the Israel Football Federation was still a part of AFC but was rejected by many Arab countries because Israel invaded Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Israel had to join UEFA in 1980. European countries agreed to play with it.
Russian Football Union has no problem joining AFC, although the football level in Asia is lower than in Europe. Moreover, Russia has most of its lands in Asia, although its history is heavily associated with Europe.
The important is that many Asian countries keep a neutral position on the Ukraine conflict, such as India, China, Pakistan, etc. so that Russia will not be isolated in AFC.
