Players from Russia and Belarus have been banned from competing in BWF events since March last year in response to the war in Ukraine.

The BWF agreed to maintain the ban in April this year when it ruled that it was "not convinced there is satisfactory justification" to lift the restrictions.

A month later, the BWF decided to look at creating a "regulative and operational framework" to allow Russian and Belarusian players to compete as individual neutral athletes.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is recommending that athletes from the two countries should be able to return to the global sporting stage providing they did not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated with the military.

Members of the BWF Council are set to deliberate the possible return of Russian and Belarusian players when they gather in Copenhagen for a meeting on Saturday (August 26).

"[We will be discussing] the Russia-Belarus situation on Saturday," BWF secretary general Thomas Lund told insidethegames.

"We will come out and say more about that once we have had the meeting, but I can’t give you much more.

"We made an announcement following the last Council meeting and we are going through the process.

"There is a point on the agenda to discuss this and come to a conclusion.

"Potentially there will be a decision and [we] will find consensus.

"There will be a decision coming out either way.

"There will obviously be comments, positions and observations to what we are presenting to the Council which might mean that we need to go back and do more work, but it will be on the agenda."

The BWF has previously insisted that "sport should foster peace and solidarity between all people and should not become a political vehicle for influence in geo-politics".

It also stated the framework being developed will follow the IOC’s "eligibility criteria for participation and aim to ensure a safe and peaceful competition environment for all athletes".

The Council meeting will be held on the sidelines of the BWF World Championships which is being held in Copenhagen.

Badminton Denmark President Kristian Pihl told insidethegames that his organisation was opposed to athletes from Russia and Belarus competing while war continues to rage in Ukraine.

"Our point of view is that the Russian and Belarusian players should not be allowed to attend but of course we follow the rules by the BWF," said Pihl.

"We would prefer if they are not attending.

"Hopefully the war is over soon, then we will take it from there but it’s a very complicated situation.

"We have had a lot of Ukrainian people moving to Denmark and many of our Danish clubs are taking in youth players so they don’t just stop playing.

"It’s a very good cooperation with Ukrainian people."