The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has cleared Russian athletes and national teams to return to all its competitions, ending a suspension that had been in place since March 2022. The decision, announced on 8 July, restores Russia’s men’s and women’s teams to the world rankings with the points they held at the moment of their freeze — third place for the men, ninth for the women — and permits them to compete in world championships and official events. The display of the Russian flag, anthem and other national symbols will be determined later by FIVB and the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) in consultation with international sports bodies.

The move follows the International Olympic Committee’s executive board decision a day earlier to provisionally lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee, in force since October 2023, and to withdraw its earlier recommendations that had urged federations to exclude Russian athletes or admit them only as neutrals. The IOC based its reversal on a legal analysis showing that the Russian committee no longer includes regional sports organisations from the occupied Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and has confirmed it will not conduct activities there. IOC President Kirsty Coventry said the committee did not want to hold athletes responsible for their governments’ actions. Returning Russian competitors must satisfy anti-doping requirements, including multiple pre-return tests overseen by the International Testing Agency, given that Russia’s national anti-doping agency remains non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code.

In European football, the landscape is markedly different. UEFA and several of its most influential member associations — including those of England, Germany and France — remain opposed to readmitting Russian clubs and national teams, according to officials cited in British media. The Guardian reported that there is “no real prospect” of Russia returning to European football, partly because UEFA controls the qualifying pathway for World Cups and its president, Aleksander Čeferin, faces re-election in 2027 and is unlikely to defy key voters. FIFA has indicated it will review its position but has not signalled a change. In Ukraine, the IOC’s broader decision drew sharp condemnation. The foreign ministry called it “a worrying signal for the entire international community”, while Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych described it as “absolutely shameful” and accused the IOC of hypocrisy, pointing to the daily civilian toll of the war.

For Russian volleyball, the practical effect is immediate: the national teams are now eligible for the qualification pathway to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The men’s and women’s sides missed the Paris 2024 Games during the ban. Olympic berths will be decided via a combination of continental championships, the 2027 World Championship and world ranking, all of which are now open to Russia. The next concrete step will be a decision by the CEV administrative council on whether to readmit Russian clubs to European competitions, a matter on which no date has yet been set.