In the coming days, the Russian Football Union (RFU) will have to resolve, apparently, the most pressing issue for it now – the transition from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). His idea was born in connection with the UEFA sanctions, which for a long time deprived both domestic clubs and the national team of the opportunity to participate in international competitions. Meanwhile, the formal change of the region that will represent the RFU, if it takes place, will entail a number of negative consequences, such as loss of income from participation in club tournaments, as well as a decrease in the level of opponents of the national team.
The Russian Football Union published statement, which refers to the postponement of the executive committee vote scheduled for Tuesday on the issue of leaving the Union of European Football Associations and moving to the Asian Football Confederation. The RFU clarified that it is connected with the “need for additional consultations.” Voting should take place in the coming days – until December 31.
This is probably the most relevant topic for the RFU and, in principle, for the entire domestic football topic. The idea of changing the region, which is represented by the structure responsible for football in Russia, arose in the fall. On Friday, members of the executive committee of the RFU actively discussed it, but did not come to an unequivocal conclusion about its expediency. And the fact that four days after that the vote on the transition was postponed once again, in reality, there is nothing strange, given the complexity of the issue.
It was caused by the sanctions that UEFA, together with the International Football Federation (FIFA), applied to the RFU shortly after the start of the military operation in Ukraine. They deprived both Russian clubs and the national team of the opportunity to play in official tournaments.
As a result, the clubs were left without European cups, and the national team in the spring was unable to take part in the final stage of selection for the World Cup in Qatar, faced with a public refusal to meet with it from competitors – Poles, Swedes and Czechs, supported by the parent football organizations, and in the autumn held only three friendly matches just with representatives of Asia on their field – in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. And the already agreed-upon version with a match against the much higher-ranked Bosnians fell through against the backdrop of protests against such a game in Bosnia. At the same time, as RFU President Alexander Dyukov clarified, at the moment UEFA “sees no reason to reconsider its decision.”
However, this can also be judged by the actions of the organization, for example, by its decision to refuse Russia admission to the draw for the next European Championship. It will take place in 2024, and the Russian team, therefore, will definitely not play in the championship.
According to supporters of the transition under the auspices of the AFC, only it will provide real prospects for “the return of Russian football to official competitions”, and prolonged isolation will entail extremely negative consequences for it.
Listing them, Alexander Dyukov pointed out, say, the risk of changing citizenship by young players, as well as a decrease in children’s “interest in playing football.”
The Asian Confederation has not yet expressed its position on the possibility of accepting Russia into its ranks. However, Alexander Dyukov has already indicated that, according to his information, she is ready to consider the Russian request. If it is satisfied, the Russian team will theoretically be able to integrate into the qualifications at least for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. However, in the long run, the transition will bring Russian football more harm than good.
What skeptics do not like about his idea is easy to guess. Both the national team and clubs will suffer from the change of confederation.
The national team in this case will have to exist in an environment where the level of competition is much lower than in UEFA. The World Cup in Qatar, which ended on December 18, was interpreted by some experts as successful for the AFC. It was represented at the tournament by six teams, and half of them – Japanese, Australian and South Korean – reached the play-offs, and the Saudi, although, like the Qataris and Iranians, did not make it to the cup stage, inflicted a defeat in the opening match on the Argentines, who became finally the owners of gold.
But this progress is, at best, very relative. None of the three teams from the AFC managed to get past the first round of the play-offs. And their results were quite consistent with the FIFA rating.
Above all among the Asian teams in it is the Japanese – in 20th place. The third ten of the classification also includes Iranians, Koreans and Australians. Most of the national teams of the confederation are extremely weak even against the background of the European middle peasants.
These conditions can hardly be called ideal for the sports growth of the national team and increasing its demand among the public. At the same time, it is not a fact that the selection for the main football tournament will be much easier for her than in Europe. The list of participants in the North American World Championship has been expanded from 32 to 48 teams. The UEFA zone has a third of the total number of slots – 16, while the AFC – only eight guaranteed tickets (one more can be earned in the intercontinental play-off).
Even more obvious is the damage to clubs.
Leaving UEFA, they are deprived of European competitions, which attract sponsors, serve as an additional incentive in negotiations on player transfers, as well as an important source of income for domestic giants. In this sense, the Asian Champions League is behind the European one not by a corps, but by several corps.
Its overall strength can be judged at least by the statistics of the annual club world championship. Since the debut draw took place in 2000, the trophy has gone exclusively to European and South American teams, and only two Asian teams – Kashima Antlers from Japan and Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates – have managed to reach the final match.
Prize money in tournaments is generally incomparable in scale. In the Asian Champions League, the club receives $50,000 for winning the group stage, and something similar to a solid bonus – $4 million – is supposed only for the title of the winner. In the European tournament, getting into the group alone brings about €15 million, and Zenit in 2021, even though they didn’t make it to the playoffs, still earned about €40 million from it. Moreover, in club fees are likely to rise further in the coming years thanks to UEFA’s Champions League reform.