MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. The Russian national football team will play two friendly matches at home in November against Peru and Chile, the Russian Football Union’s (RFU) press office reported on Monday.
The match against Peru is scheduled to be played on November 12 in Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg at the 67,800-seat capacity Gazprom Arena.
Three days later, on November 15, the Russian side will welcome the national team of Chile in the Black Sea southern city of Sochi at the almost 45,000-seat capacity Fisht Stadium.
The Russian national football team is currently 35th in FIFA World Rankings list with Chile standing in 57th place and Peru occupying 42nd.
According to previous media reports, the Russian national team will play against Jordan at home on September 4 and then, on September 7, the Russians will face rivals from Qatar on the road.
On October 10, the Russian national team will play with the Iranian team in Volgograd, and on October 14 they will meet with the Bolivian team in Moscow.
Gazprom Arena
The newly built Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg hosted the opening and final matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and also served as one of 12 stadiums across the country hosting matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Fisht Stadium
The Fisht stadium was built for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. The stadium, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, was later reconstructed to host the matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The over 44,000-seat capacity stadium is located in Sochi Olympic Park and was named after Mount Fisht.
The Fisht Stadium previously hosted multiple international football fixtures including four matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and six matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Russia’s football ban
The world’s governing football body, FIFA, announced on February 28, 2022, that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from participating in FIFA tournaments.
In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision regarding 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.