It is striking that in May of this year, Palestine submitted a motion to FIFA aimed at imposing a severe sanction on Israel in the form of a total ban on its participation in any international soccer tournament. At the FIFA meeting, it was officially announced that a final decision would be made by July 25 on whether to impose a global ban on Israel.
Surprisingly, FIFA's final decision did not impose a global ban on Israel, but instead allowed it to continue to participate in World Cup qualifying matches in Europe. Meanwhile, Russia continues to face a global ban, a decision that has sparked widespread controversy in the soccer world.
This month, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) sent out invitations to soccer associations to participate in the World Cup qualifying draw, however, the Russian Football Federation (RFU) did not receive any invitations. Currently, on the official FIFA website, the Russian men's soccer team's information has disappeared, which undoubtedly indicates that they are still subject to a ban by FIFA and the Union of European Football Associations, and have been deprived of even qualifying for the qualifying rounds.
Since being banned in March 2022, the Russian men's soccer team has spent more than two years without matches, during which they have only been able to participate in international friendlies. This year, they played five friendlies: a 4-0 thrashing of Serbia, a 4-0 win over Belarus, a 3-0 defeat of Vietnam, a 10-0 sweep of Brunei and a 4-0 win over Syria. Despite not suffering a total ban from FIFA, Russia's victories did not result in technical points, and they are still ranked 34th in the world. Nonetheless, they remain at a second-rate soccer level in Europe, and in Asia, they are similar to South Korea and Iran.
