The Union of European Football Associations is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan, as well as West Asian countries of Armenia and Israel. UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Since 2022, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian national teams and clubs from any FIFA and UEFA competitions.
Association football is the most popular sport in Russia, beating ice hockey by a huge margin. Men's football is overseen by the Russian Football Union, having the Russian Premier League as the first tier of the Russian football league system, with the Russian Football National League being the second tier.
The Belarus national football team represents Belarus in men's international football, and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belarus, the governing body for football in Belarus. Belarus' home ground is Dinamo Stadium in Minsk. Since independence in 1991, Belarus has not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship.
The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when it was hosted by Tunisia under the tournament name of FIFA World Youth Championship until 2005. In 2007 the name was changed to its present form. FIFA bills the men's Under-20 World Cup as "the tournament of tomorrow's superstars." Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Paul Pogba are previous winners of the official player of the tournament award, and Erling Haaland was the top scorer at the 2019 edition. The current title holder is Uruguay, which won its first title at the 2023 tournament in Argentina.
The Russian Football Union is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, including the men's, women's, youth, beach soccer, futsal and Paralympic national teams. The RFS sanctions referees and football tournaments for the Russian Premier League and other football leagues in Russia. RFS is headed by Aleksandr Dyukov, the CEO of Gazprom Neft.
The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA.
The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA.
The Russia women's national football team represents Russia in international women's football. The team is controlled by the Russian Football Union and affiliated with UEFA. Yuri Krasnozhan replaced Elena Fomina as coach of the team in December 2020.
The Russia national under-21 football team is overseen by the Russian Football Union. The team competed in the European Under-21 Championship, held every two years, and international friendly matches. The team also participated in the qualification for the Olympic Games.
The Ukraine national under-19 football team also known as the Junior football team of Ukraine represents Ukraine in international football in the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship and finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
The Russia national football team represents the Russia in men's international football. It is controlled by the Russian Football Union, the governing body for football in Russia. Russia's home ground is the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and their head coach is Valery Karpin.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Russia national under-19 football team represents the Russian Football Union at the European Under-19 Football Championship and international friendly match fixtures at the under-19 age level.
The Soviet national lads football team was the under-18 football team of the Soviet Union. For world competitions it was reorganized into under-20 team. It ceased to exist on the breakup of the Union.
The Soviet national junior football team was the under-16 and under-17 football team of the Soviet Union. It ceased to exist as a result of the breakup of the Union.
The Soviet national youth football team was a special under-18 and under-20 football team of the Soviet Union designated specifically for FIFA World Youth Championship. It ceased to exist on the breakup of the Union.
The Russia national under-17 football team, controlled by the Russian Football Union, represents Russia at the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, FIFA U-17 World Cup and international friendly match fixtures at the under-17 age level.
The Russian U-20 women's national football team is the national under-20 women's association football team of Russia, which is controlled by the Russian Football Union (RFS). They have won the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship in 2005 defeating France on penalties.
The European section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar, for national teams that are members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). A total of 13 slots in the final tournament were available for UEFA teams.
Women's association football is a largely amateur sport in Russia, given the greater emphasis of the male competitions. As of 2018, there were 30,000 women playing football in Russia, with over 11,000 playing at an amateur level and only 200 playing professionally in the eight teams of the Russian Women's Football Championship.
