MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. The Russian national football team will play in an exhibition match next month against the Iranian national squad, the Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday.The agency quoted Mehdi Taj, the president of the Iranian Football Federation, as saying that the upcoming friendly would be held in the Iranian capital of Tehran either on March 22 or 23.Taj added that the Russian national women’s football squad would also travel to Tehran to play an exhibition match against the Iranian women’s national team.The Iranian men’s national football team currently has no head coach, because the post had been vacated earlier by Portuguese expert Carlos Queiroz, who parted ways with the team after Iran failed to clear the group stage at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) barred Russian clubs and teams on February 28, 2022 from participating in international competitions due to the situation around Ukraine.The Russian team was unable to take part in the qualifying tournament for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The Russian national squad also did not participate in the draw for the 2024 European Championship.Last year, the Russian national football team played three friendly football matches, namely against Kyrgyzstan in September (2-1) and against Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in November (both matches ended in scoreless draws).On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments referring to a special military operation in Ukraine.Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.Following the suspension of Russian athletes from international tournaments, many sports federations hinted at their possible participation in the Asia-based sports tournaments.
