ST. PETERSBURG, June 6. /TASS/. The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) would like to see a friendly football match played between the national teams of Afghanistan and Russia, Abdul Manan Omari, the Afghani acting minister of Labor and Social Affairs, told TASS on Thursday.

"As you may well know we have a football team in Afghanistan," the minister said speaking on the sidelines of the 2024 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. "This team is good and plays well in the Asian tournament."

"We are anxious to hold a football match between our countries," he said in response to a question about the further sports development between Russia and Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is currently ranked in 151st place in the rating list of the world global football body, FIFA Rankings, where Russia holds 35th place.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) is held on June 5-8. This year’s theme is "The Formation of New Areas of Growth as the Cornerstone of a Multipolar World."

Scheduled events include meetings for small and medium-sized businesses, creative industries, the SPIEF Youth Day, as well as the Drug Security, SPIEF Academy and SPIEF Junior forums. SPIEF is organized by the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is the information partner of the event.

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).