On February 24, 2025, unless a peace deal is signed by then, it will be three years since Vladimir Putin launched his “special operation” in Ukraine and almost as long as Russia has been excluded from all official Football competitions. A few days after the invasion of Ukraine, the International Football Federation (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) suspended all Russian teams.
The Sbornaya (nickname of the national selection) was thus deprived of qualifications for Euro 2024, of the League of Nations 2022-2023 and 2024-2025 and of qualifications for the 2026 World Cup. And the country's clubs cannot no longer participate in European competitions. But these sanctions do not prevent Russia from playing friendly matches… provided they find opponents. “It is not easy, with busy calendars, but also because certain countries prefer to avoid confronting a State whose image is not good”summarizes an agent specializing in the organization of friendly matches.
Since being sanctioned, Russia has played fourteen friendly matches, the last two at home in November against Brunei and Syria – then still under the rule of Bashar Al-Assad –, after having faced Serbia in 2024, Belarus and Vietnam. The two previous years, his opponents were Asian (Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan), Latin American (Cuba) or African. In October 2023, Russia beat Cameroon in Moscow, before challenging Kenya in Antalya (Türkiye). The A' selection went to Egypt in September 2023 to compete against the Under-23 Pharaohs.
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“The list is very telling: there are former Soviet republics very close to Moscow, countries like Iran or Iraq, which maintain good relations with Vladimir Putin. This is also the case of Cameroon and Kenya, which Russia met in Türkiye, with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom the Russian president gets along rather well.analyzes Jean-Baptiste Guégan, teacher at Sciences Po and author of several books devoted to sports geopolitics.
“All expenses paid”
In 2025, the Russian federation has already reached an agreement to host Nigeria in June. She also surveyed Senegal and Guinea for the second available date during the end-of-season international break. “Russia had brought Cameroon all expenses paid, with a significant fee added. She has the means to do it, and this is the case with all her opponents. If it wants to continue to exist on the international scene by playing at least friendly matches, it has no choice”observes an agent who wishes to remain anonymous.
Nigeria is not the only selection to have accepted an invitation to play on Russian territory in 2025; Iran has agreed in principle for October and India is expected to travel on March 21.
The financial aspect is obviously not anecdotal for the African federations invited by their Russian counterpart. But the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by FIFA and UEFA imply a political decision before the matches. “In the case of Cameroon, this was settled at the level of the foreign affairs ministries of the two countries, it was then up to the federations to agree on the sporting modalitiesspecifies the agent previously cited. If Nigeria agreed to go to Russia in June, it is because the government accepted. And this is the case for all of Russia's past and future adversaries. »
The conclusion of the Russia-Nigeria match came after a meeting in Moscow between the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, and his Nigerian counterpart, Yusuf Tugar. In recent months, the Kremlin has been prying eyes at Dakar and the invitation launched by the Russian federation to its Senegalese counterpart was predictable. “Russia has a strong military presence in many African countries, where Putin seeks to compete with the United States and Francecontinues Jean-Baptiste Guégan. For him, sport is a tool of diplomacy like any other, especially with countries which have never really positioned themselves on the conflict in Ukraine and which even tend to increasingly accept Russian influence. »
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The lifting of the double suspension imposed by FIFA and UEFA on Russia will depend solely on the end of the war in Ukraine. Excluded from qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, its selection can hope, at best, to compete in the UEFA Nations League from September 2026. It will have the opportunity in the coming years to expand the list of its African opponents .
