The world football governing body FIFA approved the participation of Russian U-15 national teams in world youth competitions, according to an announcement by the organization.
As mentioned, the decision concerns both boys and girls, within the framework of the new FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival competition that was approved by the FIFA Council last December.
The 2026 tournament in Azerbaijan
The first competition will be held from October 22 to 31, 2026 and will be hosted in Azerbaijan.
According to the announcement, the 2026 competition will be open to boys' teams from all member states of FIFA, while the 2027 edition will exclusively concern girls' teams.
From 2028 onwards, the participation of all associations is foreseen with separate competitions for boys and girls.
The legal reading: It concerns Russia as well
According to the agency DPA, the wording of FIFA regarding the participation of "all members" is interpreted as an indication that Russia is also included in the new framework for the U-15 competitions.
This creates expectations for a partial reintegration of Russian teams into international football, even at the level of age categories.
The history of the suspension
FIFA had announced on February 28, 2022 the exclusion of the national team and Russian clubs from its competitions, following the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
A corresponding decision had also been taken by UEFA, excluding Russian teams from all European competitions.
Both organizations had cited the situation in Ukraine as the reason for the removal of Russia from international football competitions.
New opening or limited reintegration?
The new initiative of FIFA is interpreted by analysts as a possible first step of rapprochement of Russian teams with international football, even at the level of infrastructure.
However, it remains unclear whether this development will expand in the future to high-level men's and women's national teams as well, or whether it will be restricted exclusively to age categories.
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