Geopolitical undercurrents as European FAs gathering in Brussels for UEFA Congress

February 11 – European football officials are gathering in the Belgian capital Brussels for the UEFA Congress tomorrow (Thursday) and the Nations League draw, with geopolitical questions providing a backdrop to the meetings. 

Last week, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, in an interview with Sky News, pushed for a reintegration of Russia, at least for youth teams.

The FIFA boss is expected to address the UEFA Congress and the tone of his address – divisive or more conciliatory – will be carefully watched with FIFA staging its own Congress in Vancouver in April.

UEFA’s position has been that Russia can only be allowed to return if the war in Ukraine ends.

At last year’s Congress in Belgrade, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said: “On the reintegration of the Russian teams – I have said it several times and I can repeat it, even if you will continue to have your doubts.”

Infantino’s Russian proposal will find little traction among European associations. Members in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia are among those questioning the mere notion of Russian reintegration, with no change on the front lines in Ukraine.

Last year, Infantino proposed a conditioned return of Russia to the international game at the UEFA Congress in Belgrade. Russia was banned from international football following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the refusal of several European national team captains to play the country.

In 2023, the European governing body attempted to bring Russian U-17 teams back into the fold, but European governments and a majority of football associations refused to accept lifting the ban for youth teams.

The issue of Greenland and an annexation by the US has abated, with talks of a potential boycott of the 2026 World Cup dying a quick death.

DFB vice president Oke Gottlich had suggested a boycott, but his own organization, led by FIFA Council member Bernd Neuendorf, reigned him in. Echoing positions taken by the French FA, the FFF, and the Austrian FA (OFB), Neuendorf said it should be left to politics to assess the political situation in the US, one of three co-hosts of this summer’s supersized 48-team World Cup.

Talks of a boycott were never serious, but some European FA’s want reassurance over the US’s hosting plans.

Earlier this week, acting ICE director Todd Lyons called ICE a “key part of the overall security apparatus for the World Cup” suggesting ICE will have a strong presence at the tournament. Recently, Trump’s immigration crackdown spiraled out of control in Minneapolis with two people killed by federal agents.

The geopolitical currents will form the backdrop to an another otherwise low-key UEFA congress with few sporting or regulatory decisions on the agenda. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin’s own position will come up for election next year. At the 2024 Congress in Paris, the Slovenian said he would not stand again in 2027, but it’s expected that he will run unopposed again next year, enjoying widespread support on the continent. Ceferin himself has not confirmed his intentions.

In Brussels, the future direction of the game in Europe will be shaped as much by what remains unsaid as by what is openly declared.

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