Russia national football team

Beginning

Led by manager Pavel Sadyrin, Russia were in Group 5 for the qualification campaign for the 1994 FIFA World Cup held in the United States which consisted of Greece, Iceland, Hungary and Luxembourg. The suspension of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia reduced the group to five teams. Russia eventually qualified alongside Greece with six wins and two draws. Russia went to the USA to start a new era of Russian football as an independent country. The Russian squad consisted of veterans like goalkeeper Stanislav Cherchesov, Aleksandr Borodyuk and players like Viktor Onopko, Oleg Salenko, Dmitri Cheryshev, Aleksandr Mostovoi, Vladimir Beschastnykh, and Valeri Karpin (some of these Russian players could have chosen to play for example the Ukrainian national football team but the Football Federation of Ukraine had failed to secure recognition in time to compete in the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification^[2]).

In the final tournament, Russia was drawn into group B with Cameroon, Sweden, and Brazil. This was considered a strong group with Russia having limited chances of qualifying for the second round. In their first two games in Detroit Russia lost 2–0 to Brazil and 3–1 to Sweden. Teetering on elimination, Russia defeated Cameroon 6–1 in San Francisco with Oleg Salenko scoring record five goals in a single match. Russia was eliminated from the tournament with three points from one win and two losses. Sadyrin was later sacked following what was a poor performance.

Euro 1996

Russia's Euro 96 match against Italy on a stamp of Azerbaijan

After Sadyrin was sacked, Oleg Romantsev was appointed coach to lead Russia to Euro 96. Romantsev was expected to qualify Russia for the final tournament and perform well. In his squad he selected many players from the 1994 FIFA World Cup such as Viktor Onopko, Aleksandr Mostovoi, Vladimir Beschastnykh, and Valery Karpin. During qualifying, Russia overcame Scotland, Greece, Finland, San Marino, and the Faroe Islands to finish in first place with eight wins and two draws.

In the final tournament Russia was in Group C with Germany, Czech Republic, and Italy. Group C was considered the 'group of death' with Russia dubbed the weakest team, and they were eliminated after losing 2–1 to Italy and 3–0 to Germany despite a goalless first half in the latter game. Russia's last game against the Czech Republic ended 3–3. Germany and Czech Republic went on to meet in the final.

1997–99

Boris Ignatyev managed Russia in their unsuccessful qualification campaign for the 1998 FIFA World Cup

After Euro 96, Boris Ignatyev was appointed manager for the campaign to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, retaining players from Euro 96 such as Viktor Onopko, Aleksandr Mostovoi, and Valery Karpin. In the qualifying stage Russia was in Group 5 with Bulgaria, Israel, Cyprus, and Luxembourg. Russia and Bulgaria were considered the two main contenders to qualify from the group with Israel considered a minor threat. Russia began the campaign with two victories against Cyprus and Luxembourg and two draws against Israel and Cyprus. They continued with victories against Luxembourg and Israel. Russia suffered their only defeat of the campaign with a 1–0 loss to Bulgaria. They ended the campaign with a 4–2 victory in the return game over Bulgaria and qualify for the play-off spot. In the play-offs, Russia was drawn with Italy. In the first leg Russia drew 1–1. In the away leg, Russia were defeated 1–0 and failed to qualify for the World Cup.

After failing to qualify for the World Cup in France, Russia were determined to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2000 co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands. Anatoliy Byshovets was appointed as Russia manager. He made very few changes to the squad by recalling players from the previous generations but did call up striker Aleksandr Panov. Russia were drawn in Group 4 for the qualifying round with France, Ukraine, Iceland, Armenia, and Andorra. Russia and France were considered as favorites for the top two spots with Ukraine being an outside contender. Russia began their campaign with three straight defeats to Ukraine, France, and Iceland. Outraged by this result, the Russian Football Union immediately sacked Byshovets and reappointed Oleg Romantsev as manager. The reappointment of Romanstev as manager brought a complete turn-around to Russia's campaign. They went on to win their next six games including a 3–2 victory over France at the Stade de France. In their last game against Ukraine, a win for Russia would have resulted in outright qualification as the winners of the group, having an identical head-to-head record with France (a 3–2 win and a 3–2 loss), while possessing a superior goal difference. Russia took a 1–0 lead; however the game finished 1–1 after a mistake by the goalkeeper Alexandr Filimonov late in the game.^[3] Russia finished third in the group, failing to qualify for their second major tournament in succession.

Revival

Oleg Romantsev remained as manager of the national team to supervise their qualification campaign to the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan. In the preliminary stage Russia was in Group 1 with Slovenia, FR Yugoslavia, and Switzerland, Faroe Islands, and Luxembourg. Russia were once again considered the favourites to qualify along with either Switzerland or Yugoslavia. Russia finished their campaign in first place to qualify directly managing seven wins, two draws, and a loss.

Russia was drawn into Group H with Belgium, Tunisia, and Japan. In their first game Russia achieved a 2–0 victory over Tunisia, but lost their next match to Japan 1–0, causing riots to erupt in Moscow.^[4] For their last game against Belgium, Russia needed a draw to take them to the second round, but lost 3–2 and was eliminated.

Georgi Yartsev managed Russia at Euro 2004

Romantsev was sacked immediately following the tournament and replaced with CSKA's Valery Gazzaev. His task looked difficult as Russia's group consisted of Switzerland, Republic of Ireland, Albania, and Georgia with the Irish considered favourites and an improving Swiss side as an increasing threat. Russia began their campaign with home victories against the Republic of Ireland and Albania, but lost their next two games away to Albania and Georgia. Gazzaev was sacked after a disappointing draw with Switzerland in Basel, and Georgi Yartsev was then appointed manager. He managed to qualify Russia for a play-off against Wales after home victories to Switzerland and Georgia. In the first play-off leg Russia drew 0–0 with Wales in Moscow, but a Vadim Evseev header gave Russia a 1–0 victory in the away leg in Cardiff to qualify for Euro 2004. The victory was overshadowed when Russian midfielder Yegor Titov tested positive for drugs; amidst calls for Russia to be disqualified, Titov was given a one-year ban on 15 February 2004.

Russia were drawn in Group A with hosts Portugal, Spain, and Greece. They were not among the favourites to progress and tournament preparations were hampered by injuries to defenders Sergei Ignashevich and Victor Onopko.^[5] Russia started their tournament against Spain but a late goal from Juan Carlos Valeron put Russia on the brink of another group stage elimination.^[6] Four days later, Russia became the first team officially eliminated after a 0–2 defeat to Portugal.^[7] The final game of the group resulted in a surprising 2–1 victory over Greece with Dmitri Kirichenko scoring one of the fastest goals of the tournament.^[8]

In the 2006 World Cup qualifying tournament, Russia was drawn into Group 3 with Portugal, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. Russia began qualification with a 1–1 draw against Slovakia on 4 September 2004 in Moscow and then beat Luxembourg 4–0, but suffered a 7–1 defeat against Portugal in Lisbon, which remains Russia's worst defeat. Victories against Estonia and Liechtenstein seemed to put them back on track but a 1–1 draw with Estonia on 30 March 2005 in Tallinn was a major disappointment which saw the end of Georgi Yartsev's reign. Under new manager Yuri Semin, Russia were able to rekindle their hopes with a 2–0 win against Latvia before a 1–1 draw in Riga on 17 August 2005. Russia seemed to redeem themselves with victories against Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and a 0–0 draw against Portugal. In their final game Russia needed to win against Slovakia in Bratislava. After a 0–0 draw Slovakia advanced to the play-offs above Russia on goal difference.

Euro 2008

Manager Guus Hiddink and midfielder Sergei Semak meet the President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, after reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2008

Having failed to qualify Russia for the 2006 World Cup, Yuri Semin stepped down several weeks later and Russia began looking for a new manager. It was clear that a foreign manager would be needed as most of the high-profile Russian coaches were not successful with the national team. On 10 April 2006, it was announced that then Australia manager Guus Hiddink would lead Russia in the Euro 2008 qualification campaign.^[9]

For the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, Russia were drawn into Group E with England, Croatia, Israel, Macedonia, Estonia, and Andorra. For much of the campaign, it was between Russia and England to obtain the final qualifying place behind Croatia. Russia lost 3–0 away to England, and in the return game in Moscow, fell to an early goal from Wayne Rooney. During the second half Russia came from behind to win 2–1 with Roman Pavlyuchenko scoring both goals. On 17 November 2007, Russia suffered a 2–1 defeat to Israel to put qualification hopes in jeopardy, but Russia still managed to qualify one point ahead of England by beating Andorra 1–0 while England lost 3–2 to Croatia.

In the Euro 2008 tournament, Russia were drawn into Group D with Sweden and Euro 2004 group rivals Spain and Greece. In a preparation friendly against Serbia, leading striker Pavel Pogrebnyak was injured and would miss the tournament. Russia lost their opening match 4–1 to Spain in Innsbruck but then beat Greece 1–0 with a goal by Konstantin Zyryanov. The third game saw Russia defeat Sweden 2–0 through goals by Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin, resulting in Russia advancing to the quarter-finals in second place behind Spain.

In the quarter-final against the Netherlands, Roman Pavlyuchenko scored a volley ten minutes after half-time. With four minutes left in the match, Ruud van Nistelrooy scored, to make it 1–1 and put the game into extra time. But Russia regained the lead when Andrei Arshavin raced down the left flank and sent a cross towards substitute Dmitri Torbinski, who tapped the ball into the net. Arshavin then beat Edwin van der Sar, ending the match 3–1, and sent Russia through to their first major semi-final since the breakup of the USSR. In the semi-finals Russia was once again matched up against Spain, and lost 3–0.

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Russia lost 0–1 against Germany in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification in October 2009

Russia was drawn to Group 4 in qualification for 2010 FIFA World Cup, competing with Germany, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. The team started the campaign with a 2–1 victory over Wales but on 11 October lost 2–1 to Germany. Russia's form then improved, and by winning 3–1 away to Wales on the same day as Finland drew 1–1 to Liechtenstein, guaranteed them at least a play-off spot. The match at the Luzhniki Stadium against Germany to top the group was watched by 84,500 fans. Miroslav Klose scored the only goal of the game in the 35th minute, sending the Germans to the finals in South Africa and Russia to a play-off.

On 14 November, Russia faced Slovenia in the first-leg of their two-legged play-off, where they won 2–1 with two goals from Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.^[10] In the return match, Russia lost 1–0 in Maribor, and Slovenia qualified for the finals on the away goals rule.^[11] On 13 February 2010, it was confirmed that Hiddink would leave his position as manager, with the expiration of his contract on 30 June.^[12]

Euro 2012

Russia directly qualified for Euro 2012 by winning qualifying Group B, defeating Slovakia, the Republic of Ireland, Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra.

Final tournament

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 Group A

Russia against Poland in Euro 2012.

Russia were drawn into Group A with Poland, Czech Republic, Greece. Led by Dick Advocaat, Russia were considered before the starting of the tournament as the dark horses of the competition as they had been unbeaten since nearly 15 games and managed to record an impressive 3–0 win against Italy only one week before the Euro 2012's opening game kick-off. The Sbornaya started off the tournament by justifying the belief with a sensational 4–1 win over the Czech Republic and temporarily went to the top of the group with three points. Alan Dzagoev netted twice and Roman Shirokov and Roman Pavlyuchenko scored. In the second game against co-host Poland, Dick Advocaat's side saw Dzagoev continuing his fine form. He netted the opener but Poland managed to equalise in the second half. Despite having drawn, the result wasn't seen as negative. The Sbornaya went full of confidence to the final game against Greece which they were meeting for the third time in a row. However, things did not go as expected as Greece scored the opener late in the first half. The game finished with a 1–0 loss which eliminated the Russians from the tournament to the disbelief of the supporters.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Czech Republic	3	2	0	1	4	5	−1	6	Advance to knockout phase
2	Greece	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
3	Russia	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
4	Poland (H)	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host.

The group stage exit was considered as one of the biggest surprises of the Euro and resulted in a hostile reaction from fans and medias. Advocaat and most of the team such as Andrey Arshavin were heavily criticized for the perceived excess of confidence.

2014 FIFA World Cup

Qualification

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group F

In July 2012, the Italian Fabio Capello was named as the new Russian manager, after being sacked by England in February.^[13]

Russia competed in Group F of World Cup qualification and qualified in first place after a 1–1 draw with Azerbaijan in their last game. In January 2014, after qualification had been achieved, Capello was rewarded with a new four-year contract to last up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.^[14]

Group F

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Russia 10 7 1 2 20 5 +15 22  Portugal 10 6 3 1 20 9 +11 21  Israel 10 3 5 2 19 14 +5 14  Azerbaijan 10 1 6 3 7 11 −4 9  Northern Ireland 10 1 4 5 9 17 −8 7  Luxembourg 10 1 3 6 7 26 −19 6

Azerbaijan  — 1–1 1–1 2–0 0–2 1–1 Israel  1–1 — 3–0 1–1 3–3 0–4 Luxembourg  0–0 0–6 — 3–2 1–2 0–4 Northern Ireland  1–1 0–2 1–1 — 2–4 1–0 Portugal  3–0 1–1 3–0 1–1 — 1–0 Russia  1–0 3–1 4–1 2–0 1–0 —

Final tournament

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup Group H

Russia played in Group H against South Korea, Belgium and Algeria.

In their first group match, against South Korea, goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev fumbled a long-range shot from Lee Keun-ho, dropping it over the line to give the Koreans the lead. Russia then went on to equalise through substitute Aleksandr Kerzhakov, who drew equal to Vladimir Beschastnykh's record 26 goals for Russia, and the match finished 1–1.^[15] In the second match, Russia held Belgium at 0–0 at the Maracanã until substitute Divock Origi scored the only goal in the 88th minute. The final group stage match between Algeria and Russia on 26 June ended 1–1, advancing Algeria and eliminating Russia. A win for Russia would have seen them qualify, and they led the game 1–0 after six minutes through Aleksandr Kokorin. In the 60th minute of the game, a green laser was shone in Akinfeev's face while he was defending from an Algerian free kick, from which Islam Slimani scored to equalise. Both Akinfeev and Russian coach Fabio Capello blamed the laser for the decisive conceded goal.^[16][17]

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium	3	3	0	0	4	1	+3	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Algeria	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4
3	Russia	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
4	South Korea	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tie-breaking criteria

UEFA Euro 2016

Qualification

Russia were placed in Group G of UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying alongside Sweden, Austria, Montenegro, Moldova and Liechtenstein. Russia began their campaign well with a 4–0 win against Liechtenstein. This was followed by a string of shaky performances by Russia, two 1–1 draws against Sweden and Moldova and two 1–0 losses against Austria. Russia were awarded a 3–0 victory against Montenegro due to crowd violence. At this stage, Russia looked to be finishing third in their group before they bounced back by winning their remaining matches against Sweden, Liechtenstein, Moldova and Montenegro to finish second in their qualifying group above Sweden and qualify for UEFA Euro 2016.

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Austria	10	9	1	0	22	5	+17	28	Qualify for final tournament
2	Russia	10	6	2	2	21	5	+16	20
3	Sweden	10	5	3	2	15	9	+6	18	Advance to play-offs
4	Montenegro	10	3	2	5	10	13	−3	11
5	Liechtenstein	10	1	2	7	2	26	−24	5
6	Moldova	10	0	2	8	4	16	−12	2

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Final tournament

Main article: UEFA Euro 2016 Group B

During the group stages of the tournament, UEFA imposed a suspended disqualification on Russia for crowd trouble during a group match against England.^[18] Russia were knocked out of the competition in their final group match which was against Wales (a 3–0 defeat); prior to this they had only collected a single point from a 1–1 draw against England which was followed by a 2–1 loss to Slovakia.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Wales	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6	Advance to knockout phase
2	England	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
3	Slovakia	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	Russia	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

Source: UEFA

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup

Russia qualified for the 2017 Confederations Cup as hosts.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Mexico	3	2	1	0	6	4	+2	7
3	Russia (H)	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	3
4	New Zealand	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0

17 June 2017 (2017-06-17)18:00

Russia	2–0	New Zealand
Boxall  31' (o.g.) Smolov  69'	Report

Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg

Attendance: 50,251

Referee: Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)

21 June 2017 (2017-06-21)18:00

Russia	0–1	Portugal
	Report	Ronaldo  8'

Otkritie Arena, Moscow

Attendance: 42,759

Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

24 June 2017 (2017-06-24)18:00

Mexico	2–1	Russia
Araujo  30' Lozano  52'	Report	Samedov  25'

Kazan Arena, Kazan

Attendance: 41,585

Referee: Fahad Al-Mirdasi (Saudi Arabia)

2018 FIFA World Cup

Russian team during the penalty series in the first knockout round against Spain at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

On 2 December 2010, Russia were selected to host the 2018 World Cup and automatically qualified for the tournament.^[19][20] During the friendly matches prior to the tournament, Russia did not have good results. The team lost more games than it won and this made their FIFA ranking fall to 70th, the lowest among all World Cup participants.^[21][22] Russia were drawn to play Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay in the group stage.

Despite a series of poor results in warm-up games, however, Russia began their World Cup campaign with a 5–0 demolition of Saudi Arabia, who were three places above them in the rankings,^[23] on 14 June in the opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.^[24] On 19 June, Russia won their second game of the group stage, beating Egypt by a scoreline of 3–1,^[25] taking their goal difference to +7 with only two matches played.^[26] The win over Egypt all but secured Russia's advancement into the knockout stage for the first time since 1986, when they played as the Soviet Union; and also for the first time in their history as an independent state.^[27] They officially qualified for the knockout stage the next day, following Uruguay's 1–0 win over Saudi Arabia.^[28][29] Russia's final group game was against two-time world champions (1930 and 1950) and powerhouse Uruguay, with Russia losing 3–0,^[30] meaning that they would finish second in the group.

Advancing from their group in second place, Russia faced Spain at the Round of 16 in Moscow. Spain were considered one of the tournament favorites with many accomplished players at club and international level, having won 2010 edition. Russia managed to surprise Spain in one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history; beating them in a penalty shootout after the match ended 1–1 in regular time.^[31] BBC Sport and The Guardian described this as one of the biggest tournament surprises, considering how Russia were the lowest-ranked team prior to the competition, and according to some, had one of the worst teams of the competition.^[32][33] Against the Spaniards who were known for their Tiki-taka, Coach Stanislav Cherchesov used a defensive 5-3-1-1 formation to sit deep and defend with 10 men, and conceded no goals from open play as Spain's only goal was from a corner kick set piece while Russia tied the game thanks for a penalty awarded for a handball.^[34] Igor Akinfeev, who saved two penalties including a foot-save to deny Spain's Iago Aspas, was voted as Budweiser Man of the Match. The win against Spain sent supporters and residents of Russia into wild celebrations, as they reached the quarter-finals for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union.^[35] Match TV commentator Denis Kazansky said "From the first day we had not been expecting much from our team. Then thoughts turned to winning the thing. What we have seen is a significant change in people's attitudes, and in the history of Russian football".^[36]

Russia then played Croatia in the quarter-finals held at Sochi, on 7 July.^[37][38][39] Coach Stanislav Cherchesov reverted to a four-man defense which successfully exploited Croatia offensive set-up which proved vulnerable to Russia's counter-attacking.^[34] Russia scored first (a spectacular strike by Denis Cheryshev which was his fourth goal of the tournament and was later nominated for the Puskas Award</ref>) and last (a header from Mário Fernandes at the 115th minute) as the match finished 2–2 after extra time, and then were eliminated 3–4 in the penalty shootout.^[40] Nonetheless, this stands as Russia’s best World Cup performance ever since the dissolution of the USSR. The team visited the FIFA Fan Fest in Moscow on Sunday July 8, 2018 to thank their supporters and say goodbye.^[41][36]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uruguay	3	3	0	0	5	0	+5	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Russia (H)	3	2	0	1	8	4	+4	6
3	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	2	7	−5	3
4	Egypt	3	0	0	3	2	6	−4	0

In the round of 16:

• The winners of Group A will advance to play the runners-up of Group B.
• The runners-up of Group A will advance to play the winners of Group B.

14 June 2018 (2018-06-14)18:00 MSK (UTC+3)

Russia	5–0	Saudi Arabia
Gazinsky  12' Cheryshev  43', 90+1' Dzyuba  71' Golovin  90+4'	Report

Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow

Attendance: 78,011^[42]

Referee: Néstor Pitana (Argentina)

19 June 2018 (2018-06-19)21:00 MSK (UTC+3)

Russia	3–1	Egypt
Fathy  47' (o.g.) Cheryshev  59' Dzyuba  62'	Report	Salah  73' (pen.)

Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg

Attendance: 64,468^[43]

Referee: Enrique Cáceres (Paraguay)

25 June 2018 (2018-06-25)18:00 SAMT (UTC+4)

Uruguay	3–0	Russia
Suárez  10' Cheryshev  23' (o.g.) Cavani  90'	Report

Cosmos Arena, Samara

Attendance: 41,970^[44]

Referee: Malang Diedhiou (Senegal)

Knockout stage

Round of sixteen

1 July 2018 (2018-07-01)17:00 MSK (UTC+3)

Spain	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Russia
Ignashevich  12' (o.g.)	Report	Dzyuba  41' (pen.)
Penalties
Iniesta Piqué Koke Ramos Aspas	3–4	Smolov Ignashevich Golovin Cheryshev

Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow

Attendance: 78,011^[45]

Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)

Quarter-finals

7 July 2018 (2018-07-07)21:00 MSK (UTC+3)

Russia	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Croatia
Cheryshev  31' Fernandes  115'	Report	Kramarić  39' Vida  101'
Penalties
Smolov Dzagoev Fernandes Ignashevich Kuzyayev	3–4	Brozović Kovačić Modrić Vida Rakitić

Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi

Attendance: 44,287^[46]

Referee: Sandro Ricci (Brazil)

Kits and crests

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Russia national football team kits.

Following the break up of the Soviet Union, the Russian Football Union opted for a new identity, replacing the red and white Adidas kits with strips supplied by Reebok. Reebok presented the team in red, blue and white kits reflecting the new national flag of Russia. In 1997, Nike decided on a simpler design using just blue and white. The design, used at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2004, consisted of mainly a white base with blue trim and the opposite combination for the away kit. After failing to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Nike moved in another direction by reintroducing red, this time as the home kit, while white being reversed as the away colour.^[47][48] This trend was continued by Adidas, who took over as suppliers in September 2008.^[49] The 2009–10 season marked yet another major change in the kit design with the introduction of the maroon and gold as the primary home colours. This combination however proved to be short lived as a return to red and white was made in 2011. The edition of the kit used at Euro 2012 featured a red base with gold trim and a Russian flag positioned diagonally while the away kit was a minimalistic white with red trim combination. The 2014 FIFA World Cup kit made return to the maroon and gold colour scheme once again, with Russian flag-coloured stripes built horizontally into the sleeves, the front includes the pattern in different shades of maroon depicting the Monument to the Conquerors of Space. The away 2014 kit is mostly white with blue trim, the top of the front below the trim shows the view of Earth from space. The sides and back of the collar are made in the colours of the Russian flag. The Russian national team's official shirt supplier since 2008 is Adidas.

Kit suppliers

Kit supplier	Period	Notes
Adidas	1992–1993
Reebok	1993–1996
Nike	1997–2008
Adidas	2008–present

FIFA World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
as  Soviet Union
1930	Did not enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958	Quarter-finals	6th	5	2	1	2	5	6
1962	Quarter-finals	6th	4	2	1	1	9	7
1966	Fourth place	4th	6	4	0	2	10	6
1970	Quarter-finals	5th	4	2	1	1	6	2
1974	Disqualified[50]
1978	Did not qualify
1982	Second group stage	7th	5	2	2	1	7	4
1986	Round of 16	10th	4	2	1	1	12	5
1990	Group stage	17th	3	1	0	2	4	4
as  Russia
1994	Group stage	18th	3	1	0	2	7	6
1998	Did not qualify
2002	Group stage	22nd	3	1	0	2	4	4
2006	Did not qualify
2010
2014	Group stage	24th	3	0	2	1	2	3
2018	Quarter-finals	8th	5	2	2	1	11	7
2022	To be determined
2026
Total	Fourth place	11/21	45	19	10	16	77	54

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks

UEFA European Championship record

UEFA European Championship record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
as  Soviet Union
1960	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	5	1
1964	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	4	2
1968	Fourth place	4th	2	0	1	1	0	2
1972	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	1	3
1976	Did not qualify
1980
1984
1988	Runners-up	2nd	5	3	1	1	7	4
as  CIS
1992	Group stage	8th	3	0	2	1	1	4
as  Russia
1996	Group stage	14th	3	0	1	2	4	8
2000	Did not qualify
2004	Group stage	10th	3	1	0	2	2	4
2008	Semi-finals	3rd	5	3	0	2	7	8
2012	Group stage	9th	3	1	1	1	5	3
2016	Group stage	23rd	3	0	1	2	2	6
2020	To be determined
. 2024
Total	1 Title	11/15	30	11	6	13	33	42

FIFA Confederations Cup

FIFA Confederations Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad
1992	Did not qualify
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2009
2013
2017	Group stage	5th	3	1	0	2	3	3	Squad
Total	Group stage	1/10	3	1	0	2	3	3	—

Major competitions
1994 World Cup – Group stage
1996 European Championship – Group stage
1998 World Cup – Failed to qualify
2000 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2002 World Cup – Group stage
2004 European Championship – Group stage
2006 World Cup – Failed to qualify
2008 European Championship – Semi-final
2010 World Cup – Failed to qualify
2012 European Championship – Group stage
2014 World Cup – Group stage
2016 European Championship – Group stage
2018 World Cup – Quarter-final
9 out of 13

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League games against Sweden on 11 October 2018 and against Turkey on 14 October 2018.^[52]
Caps and goals updated as of 14 October 2018 after the match against Turkey.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
12	1GK	Andrey Lunyov	(1991-11-13) 13 November 1991	5	0	Zenit Saint Petersburg
1	1GK	Guilherme Marinato	(1985-12-12) 12 December 1985	4	0	Lokomotiv Moscow
16	1GK	Anton Shunin	(1987-01-27) 27 January 1987	2	0	Dynamo Moscow
19	2DF	Igor Smolnikov	(1988-08-08) 8 August 1988	29	0	Zenit Saint Petersburg
13	2DF	Fyodor Kudryashov	(1987-04-05) 5 April 1987	25	0	Rubin Kazan
2	2DF	Mário Fernandes	(1990-09-19) 19 September 1990	14	1	CSKA Moscow
14	2DF	Georgi Dzhikiya	(1993-11-21) 21 November 1993	11	0	Spartak Moscow
3	2DF	Roman Neustädter	(1988-02-18) 18 February 1988	10	1	Fenerbahçe
23	2DF	Konstantin Rausch	(1990-03-15) 15 March 1990	8	0	Dynamo Moscow
5	2DF	Andrei Semyonov	(1989-03-24) 24 March 1989	7	0	Akhmat Grozny
24	2DF	Elmir Nabiullin	(1995-03-08) 8 March 1995	1	0	Zenit Saint Petersburg
4	2DF	Yegor Sorokin	(1995-11-04) 4 November 1995	1	0	Rubin Kazan
10	3MF	Alan Dzagoev	(1990-06-17) 17 June 1990	59	9	CSKA Moscow
17	3MF	Aleksandr Golovin	(1996-05-30) 30 May 1996	25	3	Monaco
21	3MF	Aleksandr Yerokhin	(1989-10-13) 13 October 1989	21	1	Zenit Saint Petersburg
11	3MF	Roman Zobnin	(1994-02-11) 11 February 1994	21	0	Spartak Moscow
6	3MF	Denis Cheryshev	(1990-12-26) 26 December 1990	20	6	Valencia
15	3MF	Aleksei Miranchuk	(1995-10-17) 17 October 1995	19	4	Lokomotiv Moscow
20	3MF	Aleksei Ionov	(1989-02-18) 18 February 1989	15	2	Rostov
7	3MF	Daler Kuzyayev	(1993-01-15) 15 January 1993	15	0	Zenit Saint Petersburg
8	3MF	Yury Gazinsky	(1989-07-20) 20 July 1989	14	1	Krasnodar
25	3MF	Ruslan Kambolov	(1990-01-01) 1 January 1990	4	0	Rubin Kazan
22	4FW	Artem Dzyuba (Captain)	(1988-08-22) 22 August 1988	31	15	Zenit Saint Petersburg
18	4FW	Dmitry Poloz	(1991-07-12) 12 July 1991	17	3	Rubin Kazan
9	4FW	Anton Zabolotny	(1991-06-13) 13 June 1991	7	1	Zenit Saint Petersburg

Recent call-ups

The following players been called up to the Russia squad in the past 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Igor Akinfeev RET	(1986-04-08) 8 April 1986	111	0	CSKA Moscow	2018 FIFA World Cup
GK	Vladimir Gabulov	(1983-10-19) 19 October 1983	10	0	Club Brugge	2018 FIFA World Cup
GK	Soslan Dzhanayev	(1987-03-13) 13 March 1987	1	0	Rubin Kazan	2018 FIFA World Cup PRE
GK	Aleksandr Selikhov	(1994-04-07) 7 April 1994	0	0	Spartak Moscow	v.  France, 27 March 2018 INJ
DF	Ilya Kutepov	(1993-07-29) 29 July 1993	12	0	Spartak Moscow	v.  Turkey, 7 September 2018 INJ
DF	Sergei Ignashevich RET	(1979-07-14) 14 July 1979	127	8	Retired	2018 FIFA World Cup
DF	Vladimir Granat	(1987-05-22) 22 May 1987	13	1	Rubin Kazan	2018 FIFA World Cup INJ
DF	Dmitri Kombarov	(1987-01-22) 22 January 1987	47	2	Spartak Moscow	2018 FIFA World Cup PRE
DF	Vladislav Ignatyev	(1987-01-20) 20 January 1987	3	0	Lokomotiv Moscow	2018 FIFA World Cup PRE
DF	Viktor Vasin	(1988-10-06) 6 October 1988	13	2	CSKA Moscow	v.  Spain, 14 November 2017 INJ
MF	Dmitry Stotsky	(1989-12-01) 1 December 1989	1	0	Krasnodar	v.  Czech Republic, 10 September 2018
MF	Pavel Mogilevets	(1993-01-25) 25 January 1993	4	0	Rubin Kazan	v.  Czech Republic, 10 September 2018
MF	Anton Shvets	(1993-04-26) 26 April 1993	1	0	Akhmat Grozny	v.  Czech Republic, 10 September 2018
MF	Yuri Zhirkov RET	(1983-08-20) 20 August 1983	87	2	Zenit Saint Petersburg	2018 FIFA World Cup INJ
MF	Aleksandr Samedov RET	(1984-07-19) 19 July 1984	53	7	Spartak Moscow	2018 FIFA World Cup
MF	Anton Miranchuk	(1995-10-17) 17 October 1995	6	0	Lokomotiv Moscow	2018 FIFA World Cup
MF	Denis Glushakov	(1987-01-27) 27 January 1987	57	5	Spartak Moscow	2018 FIFA World Cup PRE
MF	Aleksandr Tashayev	(1994-06-23) 23 June 1994	0	0	Dynamo Moscow	2018 FIFA World Cup PRE
FW	Fyodor Smolov	(1990-02-05) 5 February 1990	37	12	Lokomotiv Moscow	2018 FIFA World Cup
FW	Fyodor Chalov	(1998-04-10) 10 April 1998	0	0	CSKA Moscow	2018 FIFA World Cup PRE
FW	Aleksandr Kokorin	(1991-03-19) 19 March 1991	48	12	Zenit Saint Petersburg	v.  Brazil, 23 March 2018 INJ

2017

Russia  v  New Zealand

17 June 2017 Confederations Cup	Russia	2–0	New Zealand	St. Petersburg, Russia
18:00	Boxall  31' (o.g.) Smolov  69'	Report		Stadium: Krestovsky Stadium Attendance: 50,251 Referee: Wilmar Roldan (Colombia)

Russia  v  Portugal

21 June 2017 Confederations Cup	Russia	0–1	Portugal	Moscow, Russia
18:00		Report	Ronaldo  8'	Stadium: Otkrytiye Arena Attendance: 42,759 Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

Mexico  v  Russia

24 June 2017 Confederations Cup	Mexico	2–1	Russia	Kazan, Russia
18:00	Araujo  30' Lozano  52'	Report	Samedov  25'	Stadium: Kazan Arena Attendance: 41,585 Referee: Fahad Al-Mirdasi (Saudi Arabia)

Russia  v  South Korea

7 October Friendly	Russia	4–2	South Korea	Moscow, Russia
17:00 UTC+3	Smolov  44' Kim Ju-young  55' (o.g.), 57' (o.g.) Miranchuk  83'	Report	Kwon Kyung-won  87' Ji Dong-won  90+3'	Stadium: VEB Arena

Russia  v  Iran

10 October Friendly	Russia	1–1	Iran	Kazan, Russia
	Poloz  74'	Report	Azmoun  57'	Stadium: Kazan Arena Attendance: 33,270 Referee: Milorad Mažić (Serbia)

Russia  v  Argentina

11 November Friendly	Russia	0–1	Argentina	Moscow, Russia
15:00 (UTC+3)		Report	Agüero  86'	Stadium: Luzhniki Stadium Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

Russia  v  Spain

14 November Friendly	Russia	3–3	Spain	Saint Petersburg, Russia
21:45 MSK	Smolov  41', 70' Miranchuk  51'	Report	Alba  9' Ramos  35' (pen.), 53' (pen.)	Stadium: Krestovsky Stadium Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

2018

Russia  v  Brazil

23 March Friendly	Russia	0–3	Brazil	Moscow, Russia
19:00 MSK (UTC+3)		Report	Miranda  53' Coutinho  62' (pen.) Paulinho  66'	Stadium: Luzhniki Stadium Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus)

Russia  v  France

27 March Friendly	Russia	1–3	France	Saint Petersburg, Russia
19:50 MSK (UTC+3)	Smolov  68'	Report	Mbappé  40', 83' Pogba  49'	Stadium: Krestovsky Stadium Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (Lithuania)

Austria  v  Russia

30 May Friendly	Austria	1–0	Russia	Innsbruck, Austria
20:45 (UTC+2)	Schöpf  28'	Report		Stadium: Tivoli-Neu Attendance: 14,500 Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands)

Russia  v  Turkey

5 June Friendly	Russia	1–1	Turkey	Moscow, Russia
19:00 (UTC+3)	Samedov  35'	Report	Mallı  59'	Stadium: VEB Arena Referee: Ovidiu Hațegan (Romania)

Russia  v  Saudi Arabia

14 June 2018 FIFA World Cup	Russia	5–0	Saudi Arabia	Moscow, Russia
18:00 MSK (UTC+3)	Gazinsky  12' Cheryshev  43', 90+1' Dzyuba  71' Golovin  90+4'	Report		Stadium: Luzhniki Stadium Attendance: 78,011 Referee: Néstor Pitana (Argentina)

Russia  v  Egypt

19 June 2018 FIFA World Cup	Russia	3–1	Egypt	Saint Petersburg, Russia
21:00 MSK (UTC+3)	Fathy  47' (o.g.) Cheryshev  59' Dzyuba  62'	Report	Salah  73' (pen.)	Stadium: Krestovsky Stadium Attendance: 64,468 Referee: Enrique Cáceres (Paraguay)

Uruguay  v  Russia

25 June 2018 FIFA World Cup	Uruguay	3–0	Russia	Samara, Russia
18:00 SAMT (UTC+3)	Suárez  10' Cheryshev  23' (o.g.) Cavani  90'	Report		Stadium: Cosmos Arena Attendance: 41,970 Referee: Malang Diedhiou (Senegal)

Spain  v  Russia

1 July 2018 FIFA World Cup	Spain	1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–4 p)	Russia	Moscow, Russia
17:00 MSK (UTC+3)	Ignashevich  12' (o.g.)	Report	Dzyuba  41' (pen.)	Stadium: Luzhniki Stadium Attendance: 78,011 Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)
	Penalties
	Iniesta Piqué Koke Ramos Aspas		Smolov Ignashevich Golovin Cheryshev

Russia  v  Croatia

7 July 2018 FIFA World Cup	Russia	2–2 (a.e.t.) (3–4 p)	Croatia	Sochi, Russia
21:00 MSK (UTC+3)	Cheryshev  31' Fernandes  115'	Report	Kramarić  39' Vida  101'	Stadium: Fisht Olympic Stadium Attendance: 44,287 Referee: Sandro Ricci (Brazil)
	Penalties
	Smolov Dzagoev Fernandes Ignashevich Kuzyayev		Brozović Kovačić Modrić Vida Rakitić

Turkey  v  Russia

7 September 2018–19 UEFA Nations League	Turkey	1–2	Russia	Trabzon, Turkey
21:45 TRT (UTC+3)	Aziz  41'	Report	Cheryshev  13' Dzyuba  49'	Stadium: Şenol Güneş Stadium Attendance: 29,702 Referee: Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)

Russia  v  Czech Republic

10 September Friendly	Russia	5–1	Czech Republic	Rostov-on-Don, Russia
19:00 (UTC+3)	Ionov  8', 29' (pen.) Zabolotny  24' Yerokhin  78' Poloz  83'	Report	Souček  74'	Stadium: Rostov Arena Attendance: 42,200 Referee: Äliyar Ağhayev (Azerbaijan)

Russia  v  Sweden

11 October 2018–19 UEFA Nations League	Russia	0–0	Sweden	Kaliningrad, Russia
21:45 MSK (UTC+3)		Report		Stadium: Kaliningrad Stadium Attendance: 31,698 Referee: Luca Banti (Italy)

Russia  v  Turkey

14 October 2018–19 UEFA Nations League	Russia	2–0	Turkey	Sochi, Russia
19:00 MSK (UTC+3)	Neustädter  20' Cheryshev  78'	Report		Stadium: Fisht Olympic Stadium Referee: Paweł Raczkowski (Poland)

Germany  v  Russia

15 November Friendly	Germany	v	Russia	Leipzig, Germany
20:00 CET (UTC+01:00)				Stadium: Red Bull Arena

Sweden  v  Russia

20 November 2018–19 UEFA Nations League	Sweden	v	Russia	Solna, Sweden
20:45 CET (UTC+1)				Stadium: Friends Arena