By Victor Kanayo
The Russian Football Union (RFU) is not dropping guard in its quest to pull out of European Football Federation (UEFA) after the country was hit by ban over its invasion of Ukraine.
Already, there are indications the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will most likely accept Russia, a situation that has been projected to have impact on the Socceroos and Australian clubs.
If the move scales through, the Russians clubs will most likely suffer loses in revenue and quality of players in the aftermath as most professional footballers will not want to move play in their league.
According to Associated Press, such a move would affect Russia’s club powerhouses such as Zenit, Spartak Moscow and CSKA Moscow, who would no longer be able to feature in UEFA competitions like the Champions League.
It would also parachute an experienced national team into Asian World Cup qualifying, and several strong clubs into the Asian Champions League.
This could affect the chances of Australian national and club sides as well as having political ramifications.
Israel, an Asian nation by geography, plays in UEFA for political reasons. Kazakhstan, a Central Asian nation with a sliver of land in Europe, also opted to tussle it out in European football.
Turkey is also mainly Asian, but plays in Europe at a national and club level.
European Russia, located to the west of the Ural mountains, is home to Moscow, the capital, as well as most Russians.
But the majority of Russia’s territory, with Siberia expanding to the Pacific Ocean, is in Asia, meaning it has the geographical right to request AFC membership.
The Kremlin backs the switch to Asia due to the ongoing political and economic tensions with the US and the European Union over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
