All news

Russia’s football friendly against Cuba to enter Russian Book of Records

This was the 2nd biggest win for the Russian football team in international competition in the history of the country

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. The recent friendly match between the Russian national football team and Cuba will go down in the Russian Book of Records, Sport-Express daily reported on Friday citing the press office of the Russian Football Union (RFU).

On November 20, the Russian national football team played a home friendly against Cuba in the city of Volgograd, annihilating their guests 8-0. The Russian national team beat its previous record for number of different players to score in one match.

This was the 2nd biggest win for the Russian football team in international competition in the history of the country. On June 8, 2019, the Russian squad outplayed the national team of San Marino 9-0 in a qualifier for the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup.

During the match on November 20, host Russia chalked up three goals in the first half with the first one coming from Ivan Oblyakov in the 22nd minute of the game. The two other goals were scored by Alexander Golovin (30th minute) and Anton Miranchuk (34th minute).

The Russian team netted five more goals in the second half of the match against the Cuban team. They were delivered by Alexander Silyanov (55th minute), Alexander Sobolev (66th minute), Danil Prutsev (68th minute), Nikita Krivtsov (74th minute) and Andrei Mostovoi (78th minute).

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-sanctioned events.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made the same decision with 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 sanctions were introduced, the Russian national football squad has played a host of friendlies against other countries, namely against Kyrgyzstan (2-1), Tajikistan (0-0), Uzbekistan (0-0), Iran (1-1), Iraq (2-0), Cameroon (1-0), Kenya (2-2) and Cuba (8-0).