MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. Russia’s youth national futsal team (players under the age of 19) will play two friendly matches against Vietnam later this month, the press office of the Russian Football Union (RFU) said in a statement on Monday.
According to the statement, the matches are scheduled to be played in Vietnam on April 11 and 13.
"We are anticipating two very good matches against a strong, decent and very intense opponent," the statement quoted Russian team’s Head Coach Sergey Abramov as saying. "We have previously played against the Vietnamese national team."
"It was almost two years ago, but as far as we know, they haven't had any global changes since that time, so we know what to prepare our team for," he continued. "The matches will be difficult indeed, but it's always more interesting to compete in the pitch against a decent opponent."
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.