“It’s a positive sign for football as well, with individual athletes already back in competition. As long as the qualifiers have not started, we still have a chance, Change is in the air and I hope that next year the tables will turn in terms of all our national teams and football clubs returning to the international stage.” Alexander Dyukov is the president of the Russian Football Union (RFU) and this Monday has fueled the hopes of fans and the Russian football world. What makes you think it is now possible and more so knowing that the World Cup calendar has already been drawn and Russia is not there?

In March 2025 there are new presidential elections to an RFU that, right now, has local objectives since it does not compete beyond its border. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the sporting world has been a reflection of global political tensions by excluding Russia (and Belarus, its major ally) from numerous sporting competitions. FIFA and UEFA, the highest bodies of world and European football , respectively, have been no exception.

Now, Dyukov nurtures the hope that this situation can be reversed before the 2026 World Cup in North America by looking at the examples of other disciplines – such as swimming and figure skating – which have allowed the return of Russian athletes as neutral athletes, just as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) did with some cases at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Will Russia play as a neutral team in the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada? FIFA, for this, should make a historic exception.

SPORTING PRECEDENTS

The IOC allowed Russian athletes to participate in Paris 2024 under strict conditions as neutral athletes, forbidding them to display national symbols and assessing possible links to the conflict. The same has been done by World Aquatics and the ISU (this past 20th) with their Russian-born individual athletes. In tennis, with Daniil Medvedev, it has also been done.

But can this individual model be replicated with an entire team? Football, the world’s number one sport, is a collective expression, deeply linked to a country’s identity. All indications are that the presence of the Russian national team at the 2026 World Cup would not only mean a return to the competition, but also the possibility of displaying its flag on a global stage and its fans. Would this be a good idea from a security point of view?

And, more importantly than that, what do the nations involved in the conflict think? Precisely the USA is a nation that is providing and logistically supporting Ukraine in the conflict, so it would be a strange situation to be hosting fans of a nation that is being fought against in their own country.

TIMETABLE FOR THE 2026 WORLD CUP WITH UKRAINE

This possibility begs another question: what message would FIFA send to the world if it readmitted Russia? In a sport that often prides itself on its political neutrality, this decision would be a statement that could either strengthen its image of inclusiveness and open a global ethical debate or whitewash its invasion of Ukraine. Football is not just a game; it is a universal language loaded with symbolism.

What is certain is that last December 13 the European groups were drawn to qualify for the 2026 World Cup and Ukraine is there, but not Russia. Dyukov nurtures the hope that they will be able to participate before the games begin in March, but it seems more likely that the war will end than that FIFA and UEFA will reverse their entire philosophy, calendar and draw.