The Russian football team, which hasn’t taken much part in the international competitions for over a year, has decided to opt out of the first-ever edition of the Central Asian Football Championship after getting an invitation to play. Ever since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, UEFA and FIFA have gone at length to ban Russia from participating in their competitions.
It has been reported that Russia got the invitation beforehand to partake in the Central Asian Football Championship - set to be held at Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan from June 9 to 21 - but they declined the offer this week. The Russian Football Union has claimed that they have a loaded list of fixtures to play despite being shunned out by UEFA and FIFA last year.
Furthermore, according to the coach Valery Karpin, there was a different reason altogether as to why Russia opted out of the tournament. It was related to concerns about high temperatures and artificial pitches potentially causing injuries to the players.
The draw for the Central Asian Football Championship took place in Dushanbe with seven countries involved, just a few days ahead of a visit from FIFA President Gianni Infantino to Tajikistan.
This competition will have the hosts Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, alongside Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and special invitee Oman.
Meanwhile, Russia has stayed on as a member of UEFA despite the fact that they are banned from playing in the Euros next year. They have threatened to become part of the AFC, but that possibility hasn’t materialised as of yet.
Also, the Russian football team has competed in four friendlies with Central Asian countries since getting banned last year by UEFA and FIFA, winning one and drawing three of them.
