FIFA president Gianni Infantino says world football must reconsider Russia’s prolonged exclusion from international competition, arguing that blanket bans tied to political conflicts have failed to achieve their intended aims and risk deepening division rather than fostering peace.
Russia has been shut out of FIFA and UEFA competitions since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a decision that saw the national team expelled from the World Cup in Qatar and barred from qualifying for the 2026 tournament to be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Nearly four years on, Infantino says the isolation has neither advanced peace nor reduced tensions.
“We have to look at reinstating Russia, definitely, because this ban has not achieved anything,” Infantino told Sky Sports in London during the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup. “It has just created more frustration and hatred.”
Infantino’s most immediate focus is youth football, where he believes the consequences of exclusion are most damaging.
He argued that allowing Russian girls’ and boys’ teams back into European competition would serve football’s core mission of exchange and understanding.
“Having girls and boys from Russia being able to play football games in other parts of Europe would help,” he said, adding that young players should not carry the burden of decisions made by political leaders.
Any return, however, depends largely on UEFA. The European governing body’s executive committee, which meets next on Feb. 11 in Brussels, retains authority over Russia’s status in continental competitions. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has repeatedly stated that the war in Ukraine must end before Russia can be readmitted.
That position was tested in 2023, when UEFA proposed allowing Russia to enter the Under-17 European Championship qualifying, citing the principle that children should not be punished for geopolitical conflicts.
The plan collapsed after more than a dozen national federations threatened to boycott matches involving Russia, forcing UEFA to maintain the ban.
At senior level, Russia’s international presence has been reduced to carefully arranged friendlies outside UEFA competition.
The men’s team last played Chile and Peru in November, a stark contrast to its prominence just a few years earlier as host and quarterfinalist at the 2018 World Cup during Infantino’s first term as FIFA president.
Infantino’s comments underline a broader philosophy that has long shaped his leadership: resistance to political exclusions in sport.
He said FIFA should “enshrine in our statutes that we should actually never ban any country from playing football because of the acts of their political leaders,” framing football as a neutral platform meant to connect societies rather than mirror global fractures.
Those views align with recent guidance from the International Olympic Committee, which has encouraged international federations to consider allowing Russian athletes to return at youth level under strict conditions, a shift that could increase pressure on football authorities to revisit their stance.
The remarks come amid renewed scrutiny of Infantino’s public messaging and political entanglements.
He recently apologised for a joke made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he said the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was special because “for the first time in history no Brit was arrested.”
The comment drew sharp criticism from fan groups and U.K. policing officials, prompting Infantino to acknowledge it was ill-judged and intended as light-hearted praise for a peaceful tournament.
Infantino has also stood by FIFA’s controversial decision to award U.S. President Donald Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize at December’s World Cup draw in Washington, even as Trump faced criticism over foreign policy rhetoric and military threats. Infantino insisted Trump “objectively deserves it,” citing his role in brokering ceasefires and saving lives.
Despite political unrest in parts of the United States and unease among some European allies, Infantino dismissed suggestions that this summer’s World Cup could face boycott calls. “There are never calls for businesses to boycott a country, so why football?” he said.
“In our divided world, in our aggressive world, we need occasions where people can meet around a shared passion,” Infantino added. “Football must remain one of those occasions.”
