Russia's attack on Ukraine is also causing upheaval in sport. Russian athletes are no longer wanted in Europe. At best, they may start under a neutral banner. With the Chess Federation, a heavyweight in the sport is now changing continents and joining Asia.
After months of tension over the Ukraine war, the Russian Chess Federation (CFR) leaves Europe and joins the Asian Federation (ACF). Those responsible in Abu Dhabi confirmed this step at the Asian Chess Summit. According to the CFR, the change will officially take place on May 1st.
"Today a historic event happened: for the first time a chess federation moved from one continent to another," Andrei Filatov, president of the Russian federation, is quoted in a press release. With the exit of Russia, Europe loses one of the heavyweights in sport. FIDE, whose Russian president Arkady Dvorkovich was only re-elected last August, currently lists 190 Russian grandmasters alone.
On March 3 of last year, a few days after the start of the aggressive war, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and the European Chess Union (ECU) expelled the Russian and Belarusian federations. However, athletes could compete internationally under the "neutral" banner of FIDE. In addition to the Chess Federation, other Russian sports federations are also said to be considering a change.
The Russian football association RFU is also toying with the idea of leaving the European association UEFA and joining the Asian continental association. At the end of December 2022, after a meeting of the RFU, it was said that a decision could be expected in March 2023 as to whether or not an application with a request for admission to the AFC should be submitted.
RFU clubs and national teams have been banned from all UEFA competitions since February 28, 2022. Russia is also currently not allowed to participate in competitions organized by the world association FIFA. However, FIFA should have no objection to letting Russia play in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, the "Sportschau" recently quoted Russian media reports as saying.
Time is of the essence for Russian football if the national team still wants to take part in the qualifiers in Asia. The first games will be played in autumn 2023.
