An idea for the future: how Russia assessed the prospects for creating a Commonwealth football championship

Although a military special operation continues on the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, officials have already begun to think about how to restore infrastructure in the region, as well as revive sports, and football in the first place.

The main problem that teams from the LPR and DPR will face in the foreseeable future is the UEFA ban on participating in tournaments held under the auspices of the RFU.

Like the Crimean clubs, they will be able to play only in domestic championships.

And, according to the acting president of the RPL, Alexander Alaev, there is no way to change the situation yet.

“I will never comment on geopolitics ... Today I don’t see any opportunities for including Crimean teams (into the Russian Football Union. -

), since the RFU is a member of FIFA and UEFA,” the functionary said last week.

In a similar situation are Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are cut off from international tournaments.

However, football is just as popular in these partially recognized states as in other countries.

A way to solve the problem with the lack of international starts was found by the chairman of the Abkhaz State Committee for Youth and Sports, Jemal Gubaz.

At a meeting held in Donetsk, he suggested creating a Commonwealth championship in which teams from Crimea, the republics of Donbass, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, as well as Kherson, Zaporozhye and other regions who wished to participate in the tournament could play.

As a format for its holding, Gubaz suggested taking the championship of the National Student Football League of Russia as a basis, the participants of which gather in one city and play several matches in a row.

This idea was supported by representatives of the DPR and LPR, and the Deputy Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Odes Baysultanov instructed to create a working group that would carefully study the issue, the press service of the Crimean Football Academy reported.

However, according to the honorary president of the RFU Vyacheslav Koloskov, in the near future such competitions will be quite difficult to organize.

“There is a theoretical possibility of such a tournament, but in practice the idea is difficult to implement.

Two main questions: how much will it cost and who will pay?

One more thing, it is not yet clear what level of football is in Lugansk and Donetsk.

Because the situation has already stabilized in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, while in other regions it remains explosive, the specialist said in a conversation with RT.

- In the future for some time it is quite possible and desirable.

But, of course, Russia will not be able to take part in such a tournament, otherwise we will lose our membership in FIFA and UEFA.”

In turn, the honored coach of the RSFSR Boris Ignatiev noted that it would be useful for national teams to participate in such tournaments and they should try to get permission from international organizations.

“Of course, the republics have an interest in holding such competitions.

We also have it.

After all, we were cut off from big football.

Therefore, any tournaments where you can play and have fans interested are very important.

I don't know if FIFA and UEFA will let us.

If so, instead of downtime, I would integrate the entire institute of national teams there.

So that young people get match practice and, when the sanctions end, we are combat-ready.

If we don’t play anywhere, we’ll have to start everything from scratch, ”explained the interlocutor of RT.

Under certain conditions, some Russian clubs are ready to take part in such a tournament.

As noted by the head coach and president of the Makhachkala "Dynamo" Gadzhi Gadzhiev, his team is not against playing in the "Commonwealth Championship".

“My civic position is this: I am for such a tournament and our teams to take part in it.

However, the leadership of the RFU must decide how much this will prevent the return of Russia to the World and European Championships.

One way or another, we still have connections with FIFA and UEFA.

Despite the sanctions, the Russian language still received official status.

Personal contacts are maintained with employees.

And consultations with them for certain will be.

We recently talked with Kurban Berdyev, who headed the Iranian Traktor, about friendly matches.

But even this moment needs to be coordinated with the RFU.

As our federation says, we will do it, ”said the RT specialist.

Hajiyev also drew attention to the fact that such a tournament is unlikely to contradict the legal norms of FIFA and UEFA, but today international federations do not always rely on them.

“All sanctions are political decisions and are caused by pressure from unfriendly countries.

Therefore, it is now difficult to answer what the reaction will be, ”concluded the coach.