Russia receives invitation to participate in Central Asian Football Tournament

Russia has been invited to participate in the inaugural season of the Central Asian Football Association Championship, proposed in June, along with seven other national teams. Since the invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Russia’s team has been banned by the European Football Union (Uefa) and FIFA banned. However, the Tajikistan Football Federation said on Monday that the new regional tournament could feature teams from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, which were formerly part of the Soviet Union, apart from Russia.

This would include Afghanistan, Iran and one other country (yet to be confirmed). The tournament will be held in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan). According to Tajikistan Football Federation, Russia has already accepted the invitation. But Russia’s football federation told state media: “We are discussing the possibility and conditions of the participation of our national team in this tournament.”

If Russia participates in this tournament, then the debate about its joining the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will start again. The country wants to return to international football competition. Russia threatened last year to leave UEFA and join the AFC, but in January this year Alexander Dyukov, the president of the country’s football association, backed down.