MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. The governing football bodies of Russia and Bahrain should schedule a friendly football match between the national teams, as the Bahraini side would very much like to see this event take place, Ambassador of Bahrain to Russia Ahmed Abdulrahman Al Saati said in an interview with Russia’s sports daily Sport Express on Tuesday.
"Anything is possible in sports, particularly with Russia," he said. "We would be more than glad for the opportunity to play against the Russian national team."
"The federations should talk things over and make a decision on the date, when it could take place. After all, both sides have their commitments. We are definitely open to discussing a date," he added.
The Russian national team will play a friendly match against Nigeria on June 6 at the 81,000-seat capacity Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. And on June 10, Russia is scheduled to play an away friendly match against the national squad of Belarus.
Russia has not lost a single friendly since sanctions were introduced against it by world football bodies. What’s more, it hasn’t even given up a goal in its last eight friendlies. These include wins over Cuba (8-0), Serbia (4-0), Belarus (4-0), Vietnam (3-0), Brunei (11-0), Syria (4-0), Grenada (5-0) and Zambia (5-0).
Russia’s football ban
The world's governing football body, FIFA, announced on February 28, 2022 that the Russian national teams and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments.
In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision in regard to the Russian national football teams' 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.