The tournament is set to be hosted in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka from March 20 to 28.

Nepal, India, Bhutan, and the hosts are due to play in the round-robin tournament alongside Russia.

Russia are due to play Bangladesh in their opening fixture at the BSSMK Stadium.

"We are delighted to announce that Russia will be competing in the SAFF U17 Women's Championship 2023 scheduled to take place in Dhaka from 20-28 March," read a SAFF statement.

"Are you ready for this?"

SAFF is part of the larger Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and consists of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

While SAFF receives grant funding from the AFC, it is not a member of the organisation in its own right.

The RFU had previously considered a transition to the AFC but the plans were eventually set aside.

Instead it invited UEFA to create a working group to reinstate its teams.

However, the participation of the under-17 side suggests that the plan to play in Asian competitions has not been completely ruled out yet.

Following the invasion of Ukraine last February, FIFA and UEFA banned all Russian squads from international competition.

It meant that Russia could not compete in the qualification rounds for the Qatar 2022 World Cup while Saint Petersburg was stripped of hosting rights for the Champions League final held last May.

Since then, the International Olympic Committee has announced that it is exploring different pathways that would see the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competition.