Russia set to end three-year Fifa exile at Under-15 World Cup in Azerbaijan

Russia will return to Fifa competition for the first time since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, having been listed as entrants for the boys’ Under-15 World Cup and Festival in Azerbaijan next month. The tournament will be the first time a Russian team has actually taken the field in a Fifa event since the ban was imposed, despite Fifa lifting the prohibition on under-17 sides back in 2023.

The Russian squad has been drawn in a group alongside Turkey, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Sudan. Last December, the Fifa Council agreed that the under-15 tournament would be open to all 211 of its member associations.

The return follows a broader shift in the international sports community’s stance toward Russia. In July, the International Olympic Committee withdrew its recommendation that global federations such as Fifa maintain bans on Russian participation. Fifa president Gianni Infantino had argued in February that the Russia ban had “not achieved anything” and had instead fostered “more frustration and hatred.”

Ukraine’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi sharply rejected that framing, describing Infantino’s remarks as “irresponsible” and “infantile.” “They detach football from the reality in which children are being killed,” he said.

Separately, the International Olympic Committee provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee in July — a ban that had been imposed in October 2023 after Russia recognised regional Olympic councils in occupied Ukrainian territories, including Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The IOC has not yet decided whether Russia will be permitted to display its flag, national colours, or have its anthem played at future Games.

Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev welcomed the IOC decision, saying it should facilitate a full return for Russian athletes across all international sports. “Our country’s return to the Olympic family is a green light for international federations to reinstate all our athletes,” he said. The Kremlin described the move as “an important step” toward restoring Russian athletes to the international stage.