MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. A friendly football match between the national teams of Russia and Mali will be played in Russia on March 27, a spokesman for the Malian Football Federation told TASS on Wednesday.

Telegram channel Mash on Sports reported earlier that the Russian national team will play in March exhibition matches against the teams from Mali and Guatemala.

"We have been confirmed that the match will be played in Russia on March 27. We are yet unable to name the city, where the match will be played," the spokesman said.

The Russian national team is currently 36th in the FIFA World Rankings, while Mali is in the 54th place.

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.