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Russia’s governing football body RFU confirms talks with US on friendly game

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier that talks were already underway on organizing a potential football friendly between the national squads of Russia and the United States

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Russia and the United States are engaged in talks on the organization of a friendly football game between the two countries, Russian Football Union (RFU) Secretary General Maxim Mitrofanov said on Thursday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this week that talks were already underway on organizing a potential football friendly between the national squads of Russia and the United States. The most recent Russia-US football friendly was played on November 14, 2012 in Russia’s southern city of Krasnodar and ended in a 2-2 draw.

"I can only confirm all the words said by the foreign minister," Mitrofanov told journalists. "I will not be making detailed comments since he [Lavrov] has already announced this, he is actively participating in this process and we [RFU] asked him about it in March."

"We are holding the negotiations with his [Lavrov’s] support. A match in Alaska? There are more suitable venues, [FIFA] World Cup stadiums, in Moscow and Washington DC," he added.

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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