“We are planning matches in March and June. We are also talking about European teams,” Dyukov said, his words leads “RIA Novosti”.
Earlier in December, the draw for the European qualifying tournament for the 2026 World Cup took place in Zurich (Switzerland). The Russian team was not included in the list of tournament participants. Based on the results of the draw, a calendar of national team games for 2025 was formed. As RIA Novosti notes, the windows in March and June were free for 24 teams, including the teams of Belarus, Armenia, Hungary, Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan.
In their last friendly match, which took place on November 19, the Russian team beat the Syrian team with a score of 4:0. The meeting took place in Volgograd at the Volgograd Arena stadium in the presence of 35,628 spectators. The national teams of Russia and Syria met for the first time on the football field. The match was taken into account in the international rankings, where the Russian team is currently takes 34th place, with 1512.32 points. The current world champions from Argentina still hold the lead (1867.25).
Previously in the RFU statedthat they expect the national team to return to international competitions in the fall of 2028, when the qualifying tournament for the 2030 World Cup starts. In April 2024, the RFU approved the concept for the development of the Russian national team, according to which it is proposed to hold up to 10 friendly matches annually, and the opponents should be teams from the top 80 of the FIFA ranking.
Let us recall that in February 2022, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the International Football Federation (FIFA) published a joint statement according to which Russian national teams and clubs were suspended from participation in competitions for an indefinite period due to a “special operation”* on the territory of Ukraine. Teams do not compete in European competitions, and the Russian national team has lost the opportunity to fight for access to the finals of the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024. In mid-July 2022, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected appeals by Russian clubs and the Russian Football Union (RFU) against this decision.
Since the suspension, the Russian men’s national football team, including the U-23 team, has played 16 friendly matches (nine wins, six draws, one defeat) – with the national teams of Kyrgyzstan (2:1), Tajikistan (0:0), Uzbekistan (0: 0), Iran (1:1), Iraq (2:0), Egypt (1:1, 1:2), Qatar (1:1), Cameroon (1:0), Kenya (2:2), Cuba (8:0), Serbia (4:0), Belarus (4:0), Vietnam (3:0), Brunei (11:0) and Syria (4:0).
The 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19 and will be the first to feature 48 teams. The tournament will consist of 104 matches in total.
*According to the requirement of Roskomnadzor, when preparing materials about a special operation in eastern Ukraine, all Russian media are required to use information only from official sources of the Russian Federation. We cannot publish materials in which the ongoing operation is called an “attack,” “invasion,” or “declaration of war,” unless this is a direct quote (Article 57 of the Federal Law on the Media). In case of violation of the requirement, a fine of 5 million rubles may be imposed on the media, and the publication may also be blocked.
2024-12-25 14:59:00