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Tajikistan proposes playing friendly football match in Russia — sports official

The Russian national football team played an away friendly match against Tajikistan on November 17, 2022, ending in a scoreless draw

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/. The Football Federation of Tajikistan (FFT) has offered the Russian Football Union (RFU) to play a friendly football match between the national teams in Russia, RFU Secretary General Maxim Mitrofanov told TASS on Thursday.

The Russian national football team played an away friendly match against Tajikistan on November 17, 2022, ending in a scoreless draw. Mitrofanov said the RFU is now considering Tajikistan's proposal to hold a possible rematch, keeping its options open to other possibilities.

"The national teams of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are currently playing their officially scheduled matches," he said. "The national team of Uzbekistan in particular is very strong and I believe it will be at the top of our list."

"So we are talking about it. Tajikistan has already proposed playing a match in Russia and we are also considering other options for matches," Mitrofanov added.

Russia’s football ban

The International Association Football Federation (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.

In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar 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 grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.

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), Cuba (8-0) and Serbia (4-0).

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