"I think the time has come to think seriously about a switch to the Asian football confederation," the state-owned sports broadcaster Match TV quoted member of parliament Dmitry Pirog as saying.

Pirog, a former professional boxer, said this was because it was unclear how long UEFA's ban on Russian clubs and the national team competing internationally would last.

UEFA increased sanctions on Russia this week by preventing the country bidding for Euro 2028 or 2032, excluding the men's team from the Nations League and the women's team from the July 6-31 Euros in England.

Pirog, deputy chair of the sports committee in parliament, said Asia had a lot of renowned European coaches and was developing strongly.

However, former RFU president Vyacheslav Koloskov said he was personally "strictly against" a change as it would bring the "death of Russian football and also we would never return to the European family."

Countries switching confederation for sporting or security issues within global football is rare but not unknown.

Australia switched from Oceania to Asia in 2006, while Israel moved into UEFA from Asia in the early 1990s.

Australian Associated Press