Women's football in Russia
{{Short description|Historical summary of women's football in Russia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox sport overview
| boxwidth = 250
| title = Women's football in Russia
| image =
| imagesize =
| image_alt =
| caption =
| union = Russian Football Union
| country = Russia
| sport = football
| noncountry =
| teamlabel1 =
| nationalteam = Women's national team
| teamlabel2 =
| repteam =
| nickname =
| first =
| registered =
| clubs =
| national_list = Russian Women's Football Championship
| club_list = Russian Women's Cup
| intl_list = Champions League
FIFA Women's World Cup (National Team)
European Championship(National Team)
Olympics(National Team)
| match =
| league =
}}
Women's association football is a largely amateur sport in Russia, given the greater emphasis of the male competitions.{{cite web
|url=https://uefaacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/05/20110622_Williams-Jean_Final-Report.pdf|title=Women's Football, Europe and Professionalization 1971-2011|author=Jean Williams|publisher=De Montfort University|access-date=20 February 2023}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rbth.com/lifestyle/327924-russian-women-play-football|title=Why don't Russian women play football?|first=Boris|last=Egorov|date=March 30, 2018|website=www.rbth.com}}
History
{{See also|Bans of women's association football}}
In 1972 the Communist Party and banned women’s football because it believed it was a “men’s sport.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/football/once-taboo-russian-women-s-football-eyes-fifa-world-cup-2018-boost/story-umkayVhy3qSbjvInTTDa7O.html|title=Once taboo, Russian women's football eyes FIFA World Cup 2018 boost|date=May 14, 2018|website=Hindustan Times}} There is a great amount of stigma attached to women playing football in Russia.{{Cite news|url=https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/10823/new-east-women-football-female-russia|title=Game changer: how football saved my life as a woman in Russia|website=The Calvert Journal}} The Soviet women's football championship was founded in 1989.{{cite web | url=https://ria.ru/20100821/267553994.html | title=Женский футбол в РФ. Справка | date=21 August 2010 }}
League
The Russian Women's Football Championship is the national league of the country consisting of 8 professional teams.
National team
The Russia women's national football team has been qualified only twice in the FIFA Women's World Cup reaching the Quarterfinals (1999, 2003), and fives times in the UEFA Women's Championship, (1997, 2001,{{Cite web|url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/woco/teams/team=557451/kindstatic=16/index.html|title=UEFA Women's C'ship – Teams – Russia|date=28 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828105639/http://www.uefa.com/competitions/woco/teams/team=557451/kindstatic=16/index.html |archive-date=28 August 2009 }} 2009, 2013, 2017).
On 28 February 2022, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in accordance with a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIFA and UEFA suspended the participation of Russia, including in the Qatar 2022 World Cup. The Russian Football Union unsuccessfully appealed the FIFA and UEFA bans to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld the bans.{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/soccer/russia-rus/story/4619546/cas-reject-russias-appeal-over-world-cup-ban-after-ukraine-invasion|title=Russia World Cup ban appeal rejected by CAS|date=18 March 2022|website=ESPN.com}}