Tomorrow Russia discusses withdrawal from UEFA and application to join AFC

[Surenas]

What changes do you think will happen? From a purely sporting point of view, the Russian national team would be one of the absolute top teams in Asia, I actually rate them on a par with Japan, even if their way of playing football is much more physical. The Russian national team would benefit, they would certainly be in every World Cup, but I think the level of the Russian league would decline in Asia in the medium term, however, the current Russian top teams would probably be the absolute favourites in Asian club football.

[armen]

Russia has apparently decided to postpone any decision on leaving UEFA for AFC until next week:
https://www.insidethegames.biz/artic...-move-decision

[oracle]

It's December 31st.

afc should say NO
AND KICK AUSTRALIA OUT OF ASIA AS WELL..

NOKHOOD NOOKHOOD
HARKI RAVAD KHANEH KHOOD

[Hosseini]

Hell no. It makes our chances of making the world cup worse.

[oracle]

No to their national teams
but definitely yes on the clubs.

[PrinceAli]

Hell no. It makes our chances of making the world cup worse.

1. With the WC expanding to 48 teams Iran should have no issues qualifying

2. if we’re gonna be scared of a mid-tier (at best) Euro nation then we might as well just not even play football. What kind of weak mentality is this…. If we can’t be one of the qualifying nations amongst Russia and other Asian nations then we don’t belong in a World Cup anyways

why run away from competition? Aren’t you tired of facing the likes of Bahrain and Lebanon? Wouldn’t you rather our team play against higher quality opponents to actually be tested?

[Hosseini]

1. I don't necessarily agree. The qualification process for 2026 isn't a walk in the park. Our team isn't immune to bad spells, like what happened with Wilmots. Still, it is not certain what direction we are going in at the moment. I doubt we would have even made the WC if we got placed in group B.

2. We can still play good teams in friendly matches. There is also plenty of good opponents in Asia, like Australia, Japan, Korea, Saudi, Oman, and Uzbekistan that will test us in the qualifiers.

Bottom line: I'd rather have us be in the WC than have a tougher qualification process and miss out, which is the worst scenario possible.

1. With the WC expanding to 48 teams Iran should have no issues qualifying

2. if we’re gonna be scared of a mid-tier (at best) Euro nation then we might as well just not even play football. What kind of weak mentality is this…. If we can’t be one of the qualifying nations amongst Russia and other Asian nations then we don’t belong in a World Cup anyways

why run away from competition? Aren’t you tired of facing the likes of Bahrain and Lebanon? Wouldn’t you rather our team play against higher quality opponents to actually be tested?

[Surenas]

Just imagine Foolad in an away game in St. Petersburg in Russian winter

[peiman92]

Hmm why not? The stronger AFC gets, the stronger we need to get.
Would be nice if Turkey, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan also joins.

[Nokhodi]

I don’t mind but I think their clubs really don’t want to lose out on money from being in European continental competitions.

[Iran_19]

In perfect world Turkey, Israel, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan should join AFC.
Israeli was actually part pf AFC till early 70s.

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[PSGman#19]

At first I wanted them to join Asia but finally I prefer to have them in Europe with legionnaires and friendlies (both at club and NT level).
If they join Asia, we would have hard time to qualify for WC, U17-U20 wc, olympics, and other sports world cup (handball, basket...)

[diz]

I think Adding Russia to AFC would be awesome. It would increase the overall competitiveness of the confederation and dilute the Arab mafia dominance in AFC. The only downside is we'd basically be traveling half the globe for qualifiers if we are in a group with Russia/China/Australia.

Russia's current territory is actually mostly in Asia. It would be very natural for them to be part of AFC.

[oracle]

In perfect world Turkey, Israel, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan should join AFC.
Israeli was actually part pf AFC till early 70s.

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If Isreal didn't leave asia
they would won so many Asian cups , acl and wc appearances.
earanmissed out for leaving asia.

[oracle]

I think Adding Russia to AFC would be awesome. It would increase the overall competitiveness of the confederation and dilute the Arab mafia dominance in AFC. The only downside is we'd basically be traveling half the globe for qualifiers if we are in a group with Russia/China/Australia.

Russia's current territory is actually mostly in Asia. It would be very natural for them to be part of AFC.

I am sure Russia national team can't lift fifa ban coming to asia
but their clubs can join