Russia is ready to return to FIFA competitions for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Moscow national team is included in the list of participants in the World Cup and the men's Under-15 Festival scheduled for next month in Azerbaijan.
Following the invasion, both Russian clubs and national teams were banned from FIFA and UEFA tournaments. Although FIFA lifted the ban imposed on Russian under-17 teams back in 2023, the upcoming event will be the first time a team will actually play. The Russian team is in a group with Turkey, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Sudan. Last December, the FIFA Council agreed that the under-15 tournament would be open to teams from each of its 211 affiliated federations.
In July, the IOC had withdrawn its recommendation to global sports federations such as FIFA to ban Russia. In recent months, FIFA President Gianni Infantino had described Russia's exclusion from competitions as "counterproductive."
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