MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. The Russian national futsal team is set to play two away-game friendly matches this month against the national squad of Iran, the Russian Football Union (RFU) press office announced in a statement on Monday.

The matches are scheduled to be played on December 18 and 19 at a stadium in the Iranian city of Lar. The match on December 18 kicks off at 7:00 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. GMT) and on December 19 at 1:30 p.m. local time (10:00 a.m. GMT).

"The Iranian national futsal squad is one of the best teams in the world, and this is why it needs no special introduction because it has top-rank players on the roster and playing against them on their turf will be double dangerous," Beso Zoidze, the head coach of the Russian national futsal team, was quoted as saying in the RFU statement.

"During our short-term training camp in Novogorsk [Moscow Region] we will try to get prepared as best as we can for the game against our opponent, both in technical and tactical fields," Zoidze said. "We will be paying particular attention to the psychological factor, which I am sure will be dominant in our encounter with the Iranian team."

The Russian national team was the winner of the 1999 UEFA Futsal Championship and the runner-up in the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup. In all, the Russian national squad has qualified for seven FIFA Futsal World Cups in the periods 1992-2000 and 2008-2021.

The International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) announced on February 28, 2022 that Russia’s national teams and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA-sanctioned events.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) also decided to exclude the Russian national football team from its UEFA tournaments.