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Russia’s national football team remains in 39th place in new FIFA World Rankings

The Union of European Football Associations made the same decision in regard to the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments

MOSCOW, October 26. /TASS/. The Russian national football team remained in the 39th place of the FIFA World Ranking, according to the list published by the world’s governing body of football on Thursday.

Russia played two official friendly football matches this month, namely against Cameroon in Moscow on October 12 (1-0) and Kenya in Turkey’s Antalya on October 16 (2-2). The press office of the Russian Football Union (RFU) announced in early October that the Russia team’s both friendlies would be officially counted in the next FIFA World Ranking.

According to the statement from FIFA, "there are no changes in the top three," of the global football rankings, which are led by the national teams of Argentina, France and Brazil.

"Argentina (1st) maintain a healthy lead (8.18 points) over their closest challengers, France. Meanwhile, Les Bleus have cemented their grip on second place, extending the gap (which now stands at 40.91 points) between themselves and Brazil (3rd)," the statement reads.

The International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) announced on February 28, 2022 that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made the same decision in regard to the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.

Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as being the reason for their decisions.

Since the sanctions were introduced, the Russian national football squad has played a host of friendly matches against other countries, namely against Kyrgyzstan (2-1), Tajikistan (0-0), Uzbekistan (0-0), Iran (1-1), Iraq (2-0), Cameroon (1-0) and Kenya (2-2).

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