In connection with the situation regarding the possible match between the national teams of Qatar and Russia in September 2023, the Ukrainian Football Association sent a letter to FIFA and the Qatari Football Association condemning the initiative to organize such a meeting.

"In order to ensure compliance with the decision of the FIFA Council and UEFA Executive Committee on excluding Russian teams, national teams or clubs from participating in international competitions under the auspices of FIFA and UEFA, adopted at the beginning of the war in Ukraine and subsequently extended in May 2022 for the 2022/2023 season, we continue to address you regarding potential violations of this decision with great hopes to prevent them."

According to open sources, the Russian Football Union officially confirmed that Russia's national men's team will play a friendly match against Qatar in September 2023, which is planned to take place in Qatar. It should also be noted that despite being excluded from international competitions by FIFA and UEFA decisions, in 2022 the Russian national men's team played friendly matches with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, followed by two more games in March 2023 against Iran and Iraq.

We at the UAF sincerely believe that the aforementioned matches cannot take place under current circumstances, being allowed and supported by confederations and member associations, as this contradicts FIFA's well-motivated intentions to isolate aggressors from the global football community.

As even after more than a year of brutal war, the Russian terrorist state continues to commit horrific crimes in Ukraine, also having a devastating impact on the nature and economy of our neighboring countries, it is unequivocally unacceptable to return teams representing Russia into the family of civilized football."