TEHRAN, August 11. /TASS/. The Iranian national football team intends to play a set of friendly games against several national squads this fall, including the Russian team, President of the Iranian Football Federation Mehdi Taj said.

"The national team's opponents will be two European teams and one Asian team that also participated in the World Cup. In addition, the [Iranian] national team will also have to play against the Russian national team," the Iranian state television and radio broadcaster quoted Taj as saying.

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.