Russia to AFC?

[CanadianSoccerFan]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/russia-rus/story/4839617/russia-considering-uefa-exitmoving-to-afc-sources?platform=amp

 

Russia will vote tomorrow on leaving UEFA for Asia. I get it politically but it's crazy from a football perspective 

[phil03]

Honestly, in the current circumstances and from both a football and political perspective, the UEFA is probably gonna be happy to see their back.

The main question is whether the AFC is gonna accept them. Sure, Russia has more friends there than in Europe these days but that's very much damning by the faintest of praise. You have several federations in the AFC who might very well refuse point blank to play Russia or Russian clubs until the political situation and three of them (Australia, South Korea, and Japan) are the influential heavyweight in the confederation. 

Depending on how widespread and how determined the opposition to Russia coming is I could see the AFC as a whole decide that whatever Russia could bring to the table is just not worth the mess it would make.

[SoCalTransport]

1 hour ago, phil03 said:

Honestly, in the current circumstances and from both a football and political perspective, the UEFA is probably gonna be happy to see their back.

The main question is whether the AFC is gonna accept them. Sure, Russia has more friends there than in Europe these days but that's very much damning by the faintest of praise. You have several federations in the AFC who might very well refuse point blank to play Russia or Russian clubs until the political situation and three of them (Australia, South Korea, and Japan) are the influential heavyweight in the confederation. 

Depending on how widespread and how determined the opposition to Russia coming is I could see the AFC as a whole decide that whatever Russia could bring to the table is just not worth the mess it would make.

From a soccer perspective if they join the AFC, they'll probably qualify for every world cup, and be very competitive in any tournament they're in.

[phil03]

6 minutes ago, SoCalTransport said:

From a soccer perspective if they join the AFC, they'll probably qualify for every world cup, and be very competitive in any tournament they're in.

Maybe for the short term but in the mid and long run? The level of their league will suffer from no longer having access to to European football, there is no two ways about it, and that would mean a decline of their national team too in due time, especially since most of its players are Russian-based.

EDIT: and that's not even going into how the current ban and the longer-term economic impact of the current mess on Russia will affect their football scene...

Edited December 29, 2022 by phil03

[CanadianSoccerFan]

There's a large contingent in West Asia that want Australia booted out. Australia taking away a WC berth and winning the Asian Cup pissed a lot of countries off. Weird they didn't see that coming ahead of time.

Russia would exacerbate that.

[RJB]

From a purely sporting perspective, this would be huge for AFC, just like Australia joining was.  It would improve the standard.  For Russia, that's turning their backs on a whole lot of money that UEFA provides through continental competition.  I can't imagine AFC will be able to come close to those dollars, and so I doubt many of the bigger clubs will be happy about it.  Also, I imagine many other UEFA clubs would be happy to see them go too, just to reduce a long away trip. 

[gigi riva]

Would AFC want Russia in the first place ?.  I am sure some UEFA countries would want them gone . Also I can see Russian Club Teams dominate  the competions over there.  Russia may be losing some major coin if they do move to another federation  No way can I see The AFC matching that kind of money. Geograficly it makes sense for Russia to be there .

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Not happening apparently:

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/12/30/russian-football-union-votes-to-remain-in-uefa-despite-ongoing-ban-a79855