Sergey SmyshlyaevReviewer SportAll materialsEmail to the authorThe Russian government has agreed with the Russian Football Union (RFU) to integrate clubs from new territories into the regular championships. This was announced on Monday by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko during a report to Vladimir Putin. Whether this is a real breakthrough is in the material of the Sport columnist. To begin with, let's return to history. After the 2014 referendum, three Crimean clubs — SKChF, TSK and Zhemchuzhina — played in the South zone of the second division of the Russian championship. The International Football Federation (FIFA) then immediately stated: all questions on the legitimacy of the integration of Crimean football in Russia are to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Officials from UEFA did not hesitate long, banning the teams from participating in the Russian championship. Then they created the Crimean Football Union (CFU), endowed with a «special status». Simply put, it meant a ban on the participation of clubs from the region in competitions under the auspices of UEFA. Over the next seven years, the rhetoric remained virtually unchanged. year: «The head of the Crimean Football Union, Yuriy Vetokha, hopes that after the election of the president of the organization, UEFA will move from words to deeds on the issue of the status of the CFU.»
