Russia want to host 'alternative World Cup' in 2026 - report

Cameron Smith

• 24 Nov 2025 09:23 CST
• 3 min read

News

Russia have reportedly proposed an ‘alternative World Cup’ for non-qualified nations in an attempt to pressure FIFA to lift their existing sanctions.

The nation has been prevented from playing competitive international fixtures since their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with FIFA and UEFA blocking their participation at the World Cup and European Championship.

Russia’s most recent official competitive match came against Croatia in a qualifying fixture for the 2022 World Cup back in November 2021 and they have been forced to play friendlies ever since.

Valery Karpin’s side faced Peru and Chile during the recent November international break and they are keen to step up the pressure on FIFA to lift the sanctions currently imposed on them.

Russia aim to organise ‘alternative World Cup’

Russia would like to compete in qualifying for the 2030 World Cup and they have now proposed an ‘alternative’ tournament to run alongside the 2026 edition for countries who failed to qualify.

This was first reported by Polish outlet Onet and has since recirculated elsewhere, with rumours suggesting that Serbia, Greece, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Nigeria, Cameroon and China could be among the teams involved in the tournament.

They have all failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup and Russia would like to organise an alternative tournament that will be held at the same time as the main event.

In doing so, they hope to increase pressure on FIFA to allow them to be involved in 2030 World Cup qualifiers.

However, it’s reported that discussions are still in the early stages, with nothing advanced as of yet. Furthermore, there is no guarantee the proposed nations would even be interested in competing at the tournament if it goes ahead.

Russia have competed at four World Cups since gaining independence in 1991, with their best finish coming at their home tournament in 2018 courtesy of a run to the quarter-finals.

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