While there have been demands that Russia be dropped from the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign for Qatar, FIFA, on Sunday, said that it is an option, but decided that the team can play using the acronym of the Russian Football Federation instead of the flag.
The ruling by the Bureau of the FIFA Council, which includes the six regional football confederation presidents, noted that along with the flag, the Russian anthem can’t be associated with the team until further notice.
The decision is along the lines of that of the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling in terms of sponsored doping, before Russia invaded Ukraine.
After the meeting of the Bureau of the Fifa Council, football’s global governing body warned that an exclusion from all competitions could be “applied in the near future should the situation not improve rapidly”.
Russia had hosted the men’s FIFA World Cup in 2018.