In Russia, they announced the return to UEFA tournaments, for which “the entire European community stands”

European football federations are allegedly in favor of the return of Russian national teams and club teams to international tournaments. At the same time, the decision to remove representatives of the aggressor country was allegedly dictated not by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but by political pressure.

Such an absurd opinion in an interview with the RB Sport portal was expressed by the Secretary General of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Maxim Mitrofanov. He spoke about the details of the negotiations with the leaders of European football and added that the national federations understand the severity of the situation in which the Russians have fallen.

“Behind the scenes, the entire European football community understands the unsportsmanlike nature of the decision and is in favor of the participation of Russian football in international competitions. We have not met with a position at any of the congresses or meetings, according to which the need for our return would be called into question. All national federations express their support to us. And they understand the severity of the situation in which Russian football is located. But political pressure is exerted on both national associations and international organizations. Actually, this pressure led to such unsportsmanlike decisions,” Mitrofanov said.

Recall that in the summer, UEFA suspended Russian clubs from the Champions League, the Europa League and the Conference League, and the national team from the Euro 2024 qualifying tournament. On March 23, the Russian team failed to defeat Iran in a friendly match (1:1), and the day before they beat Iraq (2:0).

As GLOBAL HAPPENINGS reported, RFU President Alexander Dyukov spoke about Russia’s plans to play in the qualifying tournament for the 2026 World Cup.