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Russia to play friendly football match against Mali

The match will take place in St. Petersburg at the Gazprom Arena

MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. The Russian national soccer team will play a friendly match against the team of Mali on March 31, the press service of the Russian Football Union announced.

The match will take place in St. Petersburg at the Gazprom Arena and will begin at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time (5:00 p.m. GMT).

TASS previously reported that the Russian national team will play against the team of Nicaragua in the city of Krasnodar in southern Russia on March 27.

The national team of Mali occupies 54th place in the ranking of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA); the Russian team is positioned in 36th place.

The best result for the national team of Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations was a second-place finish in 1972. The only Malian player in the Russian Premier League is midfielder Mamadou Maiga of the professional football club Pari Nizhny Novgorod.

Since 2022, Russian clubs and national teams have been suspended from FIFA and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) competitions. As a result, the Russian national team was unable to participate in the qualifying play-offs, the 2024 European Championship, and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

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