March 26, (THEWILL) – Russia’s men’s football team is set to play on home soil for the first time since November 2021.
On Sunday, they will face off against Iraq in a friendly match in St Petersburg. The team was suspended from international competition after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, a decision made by both UEFA and FIFA in February 2022.
The Russian Football Union (RFU) had considered switching from UEFA to the 47-nation Asian confederation (AFC), but no official proposal has been made. The RFU expects around 20,000 fans to attend Sunday’s game at the Gazprom Arena, which was scheduled to host last year’s UEFA Champions League final before Russia was stripped of the honour.
Russia’s men’s team has played four friendlies since the invasion, all of which were away from home. The women’s team has not played at home since February 2022. While the RFU and four Russian clubs had their appeals against the bans dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last July, some international sports federations are starting to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes back into competition.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
