‘Countries avoiding Russia in football friendlies’
Russia has arranged a men’s football friendly match away to last year’s FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar for September, but Russian Football Union (RFU) President, Aleksandr Dyukov, has admitted some countries “do not want to play with us.”
RFU secretary general, Maxim Mitrofanov, revealed the plans to play Qatar in what would be a meeting between the last two hosts of the men’s World Cup.
Both nations proved highly controversial host nations for FIFA’s flagship competition, dating back to the disputed double award of the 2018 and 2022 editions in 2010 which is widely viewed as contributing to the downfall of former President and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member in Switzerland, Sepp Blatter.
Russia were banned from Qatar 2022 after they were expelled from qualification playoffs because of the invasion of Ukraine, although this came after FIFA had been criticised for initially ordering the semi-final against Poland to be played at a neutral venue behind closed doors to the fury of their opponents.
FIFA and UEFA have maintained bans on Russian national teams and clubs from their competitions, although football has proved an outlier in not extending these measures to Belarus, whose sides can play home matches at neutral venues without spectators.
The IOC in March lifted a recommended outright ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from international sport, although insisted only individuals could compete as neutrals and teams should remain barred.
With their path to major competitions blocked, Russia’s men’s national teams have played friendlies outside of FIFA’s jurisdiction against Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Iraq since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.
Plans to play Bosnia and Herzegovina in Saint Petersburg last year were shelved because of a backlash from opposing players, and Russia did not arrange any matches for this month’s international window.
Cameroon also pulled out of a match in Moscow this month, reportedly on Government orders.
Russia’s women’s team have played Serbia and Belarus on multiple occasions in recent months.
In addition to the match against Qatar, Mitrofanov said the RFU is “already selecting the second opponent” for the men’s team in September, as reported by Russia’s official state news agency, TASS.
Dyukov added the RFU wants the second match to be at home.
Only the Iraq match has been played on Russian soil since the start of the war in Ukraine at Saint Petersburg’s Krestovsky Stadium.
Dyukov said a shortlist of teams for the fixture had been created, but admitted some countries are reluctant to face Russia.
“The shortlist includes up to ten teams, but there are certain problems in order to agree with rivals, because they do not want to play with us,” he noted, as reported by TASS.
“There is an international calendar, teams are already participating or will participate in their qualifying tournaments, so there are certain restrictions.”
Dyukov has previously set qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the RFU’s “main task”, with the European route due to start in March 2025.
The possibility of transferring to the Asian Football Confederation appears to have been shelved in favour of talks with UEFA, but Russia’s former FIFA Council member, Alexei Sorokin, has claimed this could be rekindled if the European body’s stance “does not change”.
Dyukov is a UEFA Executive Committee member, having been allowed to retain his position despite the war in Ukraine. —Insidethegames
