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FIFA president in favour of ending Russia's exclusion
Reuters • February 3rd, 2026 10:32 am
FIFA president Gianni Infantino says the ban on Russia has been fruitless | Photo: EPA
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has called for an end to Russia's four-year exclusion from international soccer tournaments.
FIFA barred Russia from competition when its ongoing invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Russia was expelled from that year's World Cup in Qatar and was not part of qualifying for the 2026 edition in the US, Canada and Mexico.
In an interview with Sky Sports that took place in London over the weekend during the FIFA Women's Champions Cup, Infantino said the ban has been fruitless. He said the first step could be to have Russia's youth teams reinstated.
"We have to (look at reinstating Russia), definitely, because this ban has not achieved anything. It has just created more frustration and hatred," Infantino said.
Gianni Infantino wants Russia's junior teams to be able to play international matches again | Photo: AP
"Having girls and boys from Russia being able to play football games in other parts of Europe would help."
UEFA's executive committee, whose next quarterly meeting is on February 11 in Brussels, has the authority to reinstate Russia.
The UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin, has maintained the war in Ukraine needs to end for that to happen.
In 2023 the European governing body briefly planned to let Russia compete in under-17 continental championship qualifying, citing a desire not to punish children for government actions.
UEFA relented and upheld the ban after a dozen national federations threatened to boycott matches with Russia.
At senior men's level, Russia has been limited to participating in friendlies, most recently against Chile and Peru in November.
Russia hosted and reached the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup during Infantino's first term as FIFA president.
Infantino told Sky Sports his opposition to bans is unreserved and FIFA should "enshrine in our statutes that we should actually never ban any country from playing football because of the acts of their political leaders".
