Russian Football Union
UEFA
Short nameRFS
Founded19 January 1912 (1912-01-19)
Headquarters7 Narodnaya Street, Moscow
FIFA affiliation1912[1]
UEFA affiliation1954 (as Football Section of the USSR)
PresidentAleksandr Dyukov
Websitewww.rfs.ru

The Russian Football Union (Russian: Российский Футбольный Союз, Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation.[2] With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, including the men's, women's, youth, beach soccer, futsal and Paralympic national teams. The RFS sanctions referees and football tournaments for the Russian Premier League and other football leagues in Russia.[3] RFS is headed by Aleksandr Dyukov, the CEO of Gazprom Neft.

Structure

The RFS is governed by a board of directors led by a chairman, Nikita Simonyan, and a director general, Aleksandr Alayev. The RFU is a member of international football bodies FIFA and UEFA, and also has a relationship with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

History

Russian Empire

The All-Russian Football Union (VFS) was created on 19 January 1912 and in the same year was admitted to FIFA. The Unions initially consisted of 52 organizations across the Russian Empire. All-Russian Football Union was the organizer of Russian Empire national football team.

Soviet Union

In 1934, the Football Federation of USSR was formed initially under the name the Football Section of Soviet Union. Its organization was in accordance with the Declaration of the All-Union Council of Fitness Culture of USSR on 27 December 1934. The Section was admitted to FIFA as the Soviet organization in 1946, and admitted to UEFA in 1954. Later the Section was reorganized as the Football Federation of USSR. Concurrently with the Section and later Federation until 1972 there operated the Football Directorate of the Soviet Sport Committee which was subordinated directly to the Soviet Ministry of Sport. The Directorate was never recognized on the international level.

Russian Federation

With the fall of the Soviet Union, the modern Russian Football Union was formed (a constituent conference took place on 8 February 1992), inheriting everything from the previous associations such as the VFS and Football Federation of USSR and reinstated in FIFA on 3 July 1992. In July 1992, the Russian national football team was formed.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or clubs, until further notice.[4][5]

After the invasion of Ukraine, Adidas suspended its long-term kit partnership with the Russian Football Union, which first began in 2008.[6] Adidas had provided all Russian teams with kits and had expanded the federation’s replica kit sales in the retail market.[6]

During the ban, talk circulated that the RFU were considering seeking to change confederations to the Asian Football Confederation, according to Match-TV broacaster Dmitry Pirog, stating, "I think the time has come to think seriously about a switch to the Asian football confederation."[7] However, Vyacheslav Koloskov opposed the idea, noting that it would "bring the death of Russian football and also we would never return to the European family."[7] In any event, the switch would have to be ratified by other Asian federations. RFU president Alexander Dyukov ruled out the idea of switching to Asian football and stated that the RFU is part of UEFA and will always be so.[8] In late November 2022, Dyukov said, at an executive board meeting on behalf of TASS, that the possibility of a switch of the association to the AFC might be considered.[9] On 29 December 2022, it was reported that the RFU would hold a meeting the next day to discuss resigning from UEFA, so as to join the AFC.[10] On 30 December, following the meeting, Dyukov stated: "We are indeed considering the option of returning to UEFA competitions as soon as possible", "It is important for us to take part in the World Cup qualifiers".[11] On December 20, 2023, Russian Football Union executive committee voted against the move to Asian Football Confederation.[12]

In October 2023, FIFA and UEFA lifted the ban on both U-17 teams, allowing them to return to competitions. This was met with opposition from Ukraine and some other UEFA members. England, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, and Romania announced that they would not play any Russian U-17 team. UEFA later axed the plan.

Presidents

Chairmen of All-Russian Football Union (1912-1915)

Chairmen of Football Section of the USSR (1934 – 1959)

Chairmen of the Football Directorate of the Soviet Sports Committee (1934 – 1972)

Chairmen of USSR Football Federation (1959-1991)

  • Valentin Granatkin (6 May 1959 – January 1964)
  • Nikolai Riashentsev (January 1964 – July 1967)
  • Vladimir Moshkarkin (July 1967 – January 1968)
  • Leonid Nikonov (January 1968 – June 1968)
  • Valentin Granatkin (June 1968 – March 1973)
  • Boris Fedosov (March 1973 – December 1980)
  • Boris Topornin (December 1980 – May 1989)
  • Lev Lebedev (May 1989 – January 1990)
  • Vyacheslav Koloskov (January 1990 – 1991)

Russian Football Union (1992-)

References

  1. ↑ Football Union of Russia. FIFA.
  2. ↑ Dunmore, Tom (16 September 2011). Historical Dictionary of Soccer. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810871885. Retrieved 20 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ WSC 283 Sep 10. "When Saturday Comes - Academy Awards". Retrieved 14 January 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions". www.fifa.com.
  5. ↑ "Russia's plan to leave UEFA and join the Asian Confederation". MARCA. 29 March 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Adidas pack their bags in Russia and drop RFU deal". 2 March 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Russian soccer ponders UEFA switch to Asia". The Examiner. 4 May 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  8. ↑ "Russia's football clubs and national team considering switching from Europe's UEFA to play in Asia". 29 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Russian Football Union looking at transferring to Asian Football Confederation". Trend.Az. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  10. ↑ "Sources: Russia considers UEFA exit, AFC move". ESPN.com. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  11. ↑ "Russian Football Union Votes to Remain in UEFA Despite Ongoing Ban". The Moscow Times. 30 December 2022.
  12. ↑ "The RFU Executive Committee voted against joining the Asian Football Confederation". TASS (in Russian). 20 December 2023. Archived from the original on 20 December 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
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