MOSCOW, Aug 24The Russian Ministry of Sports will become the founder of an organization that will take over the Commonwealth League, in which the football teams of Crimea, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as the liberated territories of Ukraine will play, the press service of the ministry reports. the first football forum «Commonwealth». The forum was attended by representatives of the Crimea, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, Russian regions, as well as organizations involved in the development of this sport — the Russian Football Union, the Crimean Football Academy, the Russian Futsal Association, National Student Football League.» The key topic of the football forum was the unified football championship, which was initiated on July 8 during a working trip to Donetsk. The unified football championship will be a tournament for professional football clubs, in which teams representing all of the above regions will take part. Taking into account the positive experience of the Crimean Football Union, which in 2020 and 2021 organized the championship of the Premier League of the Crimean Football Union and the National Student Football League, by analogy, we proposed the creation of an autonomous non-profit organization responsible for holding this championship. The Ministry of Sports of Russia will become the parent of this organization,” said Odes Baisultanov, Deputy Minister of Sports of Russia. “The first unified football championship is proposed to be held from March to November 2023 with the participation of at least 13 teams. I am glad that such a forum has become possible, and a constructive discussion of the organization of a new championship has begun on its site,» the press service of the ministry quotes Baysultanov's words. Earlier, ex-president of the Crimean Football Union (CFU) Yuriy Vetokha said that in April the first matches of the Commonwealth League will be played, in which the clubs of Crimea and the liberated territories will take part.On Monday, it became known about the creation of a working group that will analyze the readiness of Crimean clubs to integrate into the Football National League (FNL).Earlier, two divisions of the FNL were renamed the First and League 2. By decision of UEFA, Crimean clubs, after joining Crimea to the Russian Federation, play in the regional championship, the organization retains a ban on the participation of Crimean clubs in tournaments of the Russian Football Union. competitions under the auspices of the FNL.
