Overview
- FIFA confirmed Friday that Russia was drawn into a six-team group for the U-15 World Cup & Festival in Baku, marking the first scheduled FIFA competition for a Russian side since Russia was suspended after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
- The inclusion follows a December FIFA Council decision to invite all 211 member associations to the new grassroots festival, which uses an eight-a-side format with 20-minute halves to give smaller federations more matches.
- Ukraine’s minister of youth and sports, Matvii Bidnyi, called for a boycott and said Russia’s presence under its national symbols ‘legitimised a terrorist state,’ citing Bring Kids Back UA reports of more than 20,000 cases of deported or forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.
- UEFA and its president Aleksander Ceferin have reiterated that senior Russian national teams and clubs remain suspended and barred from major European competitions while the war in Ukraine continues, a stance previously upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
- Several national federations have opted out of the festival and organizers face new pressure from governments and rights groups, a development that could shape debates over wider Russian reintegration into events such as the Olympics in 2028.