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PREVIEW: Russia’s national football team to play its first-ever game against Brunei

Based on the FIFA rankings, the team of Brunei will be Russia’s weakest opposent ever

KRASNODAR, November 15. /TASS/. Russia’s national football team will play its fourth match in 2024, facing the team of Brunei at the 35,000-seat capacity Krasnodar Arena on Friday.

The game will begin at 7:00 p.m. Moscow time (4:00 p.m. GMT).

According to the RFU’s previous statements, friendly football matches between the national teams from Russia, Brunei and Syria this month would be officially registered by the world’s governing body of football, FIFA. The national football team of Russia is also scheduled to play a friendly against the Syrian national team on November 19.

The national football team of Brunei is 184th in the FIFA World Rankings. Russia and Brunei have never played each other.

Based on the FIFA rankings, the team of Brunei will be Russia’s weakest opposent ever.

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), Serbia (4-0) Belarus 4-0 and Vietnam (3-0).

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