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Russia-Jordan football match in Moscow ends in scoreless draw

The Lukoil-Arena hosted a Russian national squad match today, on September 4, for the first time since September 7, 2021, when Russia defeated Malta in qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/. Russia and Jordan played a football friendly on Thursday night, ending in a scoreless draw in the Russian capital of Moscow.

The match between hosts Russia and Jordan, which is the 2023 AFC Asian Cup runner-up, kicked off at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time (5:00 p.m. GMT) at the 45,360-seat capacity Lukoil-Arena in Moscow and, according to official sources it was attended by up to 25,000 spectators.

The Lukoil-Arena hosted a Russian national squad match today, on September 4, for the first time since September 7, 2021, when Russia defeated Malta in qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The friendly football encounter between Russia and Jordan will be officially registered by the world’s governing body of football, FIFA. The Jordanian national football team is currently 64th in the FIFA Rankings and Russia in 35th place.

Last June, Jordan qualified to play in the next FIFA World Cup edition and it will be its first appearance at the global football championships.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. The matches will be played in 16 cities across the three countries. This will be the first FIFA World Cup featuring 48 teams compared to the previous 32-team format.

This year, Russia has played against Grenada (5-0), Zambia (5-0), Nigeria (1-1) and Belarus (4-1). Russia is currently 35th in FIFA World Rankings.

On September 7, the Russians will play Qatar in the Middle East. On October 10, Russia will play versus Iran in Volgograd, and on October 14 they will meet with the Bolivian team in Moscow.

In November, Russia will play friendlies against Peru and Chile. 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.

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.

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