MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The Russian Football Union’s (RFU) negotiations on a possible friendly match with the United States are non-existent today, RFU Secretary General Maxim Mitrofanov told TASS on Thursday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in early September that talks were already underway on organizing a potential football friendly between Russia and the United States. Mitrofanov confirmed on September 11 that negotiations on the issue were underway.
"I am not authorized to disclose the details of these talks. The US team is a strong opponent," Mitrofanov told TASS. "The issue of a possible [friendly] match has already been discussed with the Russian Foreign Ministry and Sergey Lavrov in person."
"This is why it would be irresponsible to discuss a possible match with the United States with somebody over a cup of coffee without the consent of the Foreign Ministry," he continued.
"This is quite normal, since the Foreign Ministry is a government body in charge of supervising activities of other organizations, including within the framework of cultural, sports and other areas of international cooperation," Mitrofanov noted. "This is why, we [RFU] are fulfilling our minor part of the work under the guidance of our state and in accordance with directions that the state sets for us."
"We later held contacts with colleagues from the US Soccer Federation," he pointed out. "These contacts are developing along a sine wave, as colleagues from the United States are obviously guided by the stance and statements made by their country's president, which is probably understandable. There are no decisions or agreements on the match between our national teams as of yet," Mitrofanov summed up.
The last time Russia and the US squared off was on November 14, 2012 in Russia’s southern city of Krasnodar. The match ended in a 2-2 draw.
Mitrofanov also told TASS that the Russian national football team was working to schedule two away friendly matches next June against countries that qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. The matches will be staged in 16 cities across the three countries. This will be the first FIFA World Cup featuring 48 teams instead of the previous 32-team format.
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.