Russia to return to Fifa competition in boys' Under-15 World Cup

Russia are poised to compete in a Fifa event for the first time since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The country was listed on Friday among the entrants for the boys' Under-15 World Cup and Festival which is being hosted in Azerbaijan next month. Russian national teams and club sides were banned from Fifa and UEefa competitions in the wake of the invasion. Though Fifa lifted the ban on Russia's under-17s in 2023, this under-15 tournament marks the first time they will have actually played. Russia have been drawn in a group alongside Turkey, as well as Afghanistan, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Sudan. Fifa Council agreed last December that the under-15 event would be open to teams from all of its 211 member associations. In July, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dropped its recommendation for global sports federations like Fifa to ban Russia. In February, Fifa president Gianni Infantino told Sky News the Russia ban had 'not achieved anything' and had just created 'more frustration and hatred'. Ukraine's sports minister Matvii Bidnyi described Infantino's remarks as 'irresponsible' and 'infantile'. 'They detach football from the reality in which children are being killed,' he said.