UEFA has updated its list of qualified teams, confirming that Russian representatives remain barred from participating in its events. Russian clubs and national sides will be absent from European competitions, the Nations League, futsal championships, and other UEFA tournaments.
Russian national teams and football clubs from the Russian Federation will be excluded from UEFA international tournaments during the 2026/27 season.
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The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has prolonged the suspension of Russian teams from its competitions.
According to the organisation’s official document (source in Russian), “The UEFA Executive Committee has revised the list of participants for the 2026/27 season to align it with the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs from UEFA tournaments. The participant list was also updated to account for competition outcomes, including the redistribution of titleholder spots and allocation based on European performance rankings.”
In early June, the Ukrainian Association of Football, alongside the country’s National Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, sent a joint formal appeal to FIFA and UEFA leadership. They urged these international football bodies to maintain the current sanctions against Russia and to enforce similar restrictions on Belarus.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, both FIFA and UEFA decided to suspend Russia from their competitions. Consequently, the Russian national team was denied the opportunity to qualify for the Qatar World Cup via play-offs, while Russian Premier League clubs were barred from European club tournaments.
Despite Russia dropping to 28th place in UEFA’s coefficient rankings last season, theoretically, it could have still fielded four teams in European club competitions.
Currently, the Russian national team participates only in friendly matches. Their recent opponents have included the national sides of Burkina Faso, Egypt, Mali, and Nicaragua.
In September 2023, UEFA’s Executive Committee initially allowed Russia’s under-17 teams to re-enter competitions; however, this decision was reversed the following month.
Russian sports analysts recognize that this isolation is gradually contributing to a decline in football standards within the country.
At the same time, they note that UEFA has not completely erased Russia’s ranking, instead assigning it the lowest possible coefficient each season, while continuing to fulfill its financial obligations in solidarity payments and support for youth and grassroots football development.