MOSCOW, September 24. /TASS/. Over 26,000 tickets have been sold for a friendly football match between the Russian and Iranian national football teams scheduled for next week, the press office of the Russian Football Union (RFU) told TASS on Thursday.

The Russian national football squad will meet Iran in a friendly match in Kazan, the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan. The match will be played at the more than 43,000-seat AK Bars Arena in Kazan on September 29.

"Over 26,000 tickets have already been sold," the RFU said in a statement.

TASS previously reported that the national anthem of Russia before the match will be performed by Elmira Kalimullina, who is People’s Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan.

The RFU also earlier announced that it dedicated the national team’s matches to the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia. Russia’s band ‘Rasa’ will be performing ahead of the games, showcasing traditions of Russian and Tatar cultures.

Russia and Iran have played against each other four times before - all in exhibition matches. In their most recent encounter in Russia’s Volgograd in October 2025, the hosts defeated the Iranian team 2-1. The other three matches ended in two draws and one Iranian win.

The RFU announced earlier in the month that its national team would play friendly matches against Namibia on October 3 in the Russian Urals city of Yekaterinburg, and then Nigeria on October 6 in the Russian Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod.

Namibia is currently 121st in the FIFA World Rankings, while Russia stands at 35th. The two teams have never played each other. The match in Yekaterinburg will be the first for the Russian national team at the over 35,000-seat capacity Central Stadium, which was one of the 12 venues in 11 cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Nigeria is currently 26th in the FIFA World Rankings. Russia has played Nigeria once before. In June 2025, the teams met in a friendly match at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, finishing in a 1-1 draw.

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.