KRASNOYARSK, October 22. /TASS/. The Russian Football Union (RFU) is in talks with the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) about the possibility of organizing a friendly match between the national teams, RFU Secretary General Maxim Mitrofanov told TASS on Thursday.
US Special Envoy for Global Partnerships Paolo Zampolli said earlier in an interview with TASS that there was a chance of arranging an exhibition football match between the Russian and US national teams.
"As you may well know, we never come up with comments on talks regarding matches until final agreements are reached and documents are signed," Mitrofanov said, speaking on the sidelines of the 14th Russia: Country of Sports annual international sports forum.
"We are considering the possibility of hosting a match with the US national team; we have communicated with the [American] federation on this issue more than once, but it is too early to assess the effectiveness of this communication. All I can say at the moment is that the current situation is quite positive," he added.
The 14th Russia: Country of Sports annual international sports forum is taking place in Russia’s second-largest Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on October 21-23 with the support of the Russian government and the Sports Ministry. The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Krasnoyarsk Region government. TASS is the official information partner of the forum.
The annual forum was established in 2009 by a decree of the Russian president to promote physical culture and sport, international sports cooperation and a healthy lifestyle.
Russia’s national football squad played three friendly matches in late September and early October, namely against Iran (2-0), Namibia (6-0) and Nigeria (3-3).
The world’s governing football body, FIFA, announced on February 28, 2022, that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from participating in FIFA tournaments.
In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision regarding the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.
Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.