Russian football officials to skip 2026 World Cup Preliminary Draw in Zurich

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Representatives from the Russian Football Union (RFU) will skip the UEFA Preliminary Draw ceremony for the 2026 FIFA World Cup next month in Switzerland, RFU Secretary General Maxim Mitrofanov told TASS on Friday.
The UEFA Preliminary Draw for the FIFA 2026 World Cup is scheduled to be held at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, on December 13, 2024.
“If we [Russian national football team] are not part of the draw contenders, then we will not be attending the procedure for the World Cup,” Mitrofanov said.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The matches will be played in 16 cities across the co-hosting countries. This will be the first FIFA World Cup featuring 48 teams, compared to the previous 32-team format.
The International Football Association (FIFA) announced on February 28, 2022, that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments.
In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision regarding the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.
Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s military operation in Ukraine as the grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.