MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. The Russian national football team is set to play at home next month a friendly football match against the national squad of Venezuela, the Russian Football Union’s (RFU) press office reported on Tuesday.
The match is scheduled to be played on November 17 in the country’s southern city of Krasnodar and the exact kick-off time of the match is expected to be announced later.
Earlier in the day, the RFU press office reported that the national football teams of Russia and Uzbekistan would play a friendly match on November 12 in Tashkent.
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).
Venezuela is currently 49th in the FIFA World Rankings while Russia stands at 35th.
Russia’s football ban
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.