Russia World Cup Information

Russian Football News Latest

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

About the Russian National Football Team

Russia qualified for two World Cups (1994, 2002) and three European Championships (1996, 2004, 2008). Euro 2008 marks the first time they have passed the group stages of a major tournament, these advances are not counting the USSR national team.

After the break up of the Soviet Union, Russia played its first international match against Mexico on August 16, 1992 winning 2-0 with a team of former USSR players from the other republics.

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 April 10, 2006, it was announced that then Australia manager Guus Hiddink would lead Russia in the Euro 2008 qualification campaign.

For the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. Russia were drawn into group E with England, Croatia, Israel, FYR Macedonia, Estonia, and Andorra. Led by Guus Hiddink, Russia began their Euro 2008 campaign by drawing with Croatia 0-0 and Israel 1-1 at home. They picked up momentum with a 2-0 win against FYR Macedonia in Skopje, and 2-0 home and away wins against Estonia. On June 2, 2007, Russia defeated Andorra 4-0 in Saint Petersburg with Aleksandr Kerzhakov scoring a hat-trick and an additional goal scored by Dmitriy Sychev. Russia then defeated Macedonia 3-0. Russia's campaign suffered a setback in September 2007 when they lost 3-0 to England at Wembley. In the return game in Moscow, Russia 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. At the time England were the strongest team defensively in the whole qualifying campaign. On November 17, 2007, Russia suffered a 2-1 defeat to Israel to put qualification hopes out of their hands. Despite the defeat, Russia still managed to qualify with a 1-0 win over Andorra while England suffered a 3-2 defeat to a Croatia side at Wembley. Russia were able to qualify in second place with 24 points above England who had 23 points.

Prior to Euro 2008, Russia lost to Romania and defeated Kazakhstan, Serbia, and Lithuania in friendlies, but their win over Serbia came at a price. In the victory against Serbia, then number one striker Pavel Pogrebnyak suffered a severe injury which caused him to miss the entire Euro 2008 tournament.

In the Euro 2008 tournament, Russia were drawn into Group D with Sweden and Euro 2004 group rivals Spain and Greece.

On 10 June Russia was heavily beaten by Spain 1-4 in their opening Euro 2008 game in Innsbruck. David Villa scored a hat-trick and Cesc Fàbregas added a fourth after Roman Pavlyuchenko had reduced the arrears with a header close to the end of the game. Russia quickly rebounded however and won their next game against Greece 1-0 with Konstantin Zyryanov being the lone goal scorer. The third game at Innsbruck stadium saw Russia as 2-0 victor over Sweden, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin having scored. The victory made it possible for the Russian team to qualify further on to the quarterfinals with 6 points, running-up to Spain, who gained 9.

In a quarter-final against the Netherlands, the tournament favourites up to this point, Pavlyuchenko scored 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 Dmitri Torbinski tapped in after a cross by Andrei Arshavin. Arshavin scored against Edwin van der Sar to send Russia through to their first major semi final since the break up of the USSR. In the semi-finals Russia was once again matched up against Spain. On a rainy night in Vienna, the two teams went into half-time with the score at 0-0. However, Xavi put Spain 1-0 just after half-time. Dani Güiza and David Silva also scored, making the final score 3-0, and eliminating Russia.

Russia has already played friendly match against Netherlands on 20 August. It ended in a draw with the score 1-1.

Russia Kits

Russia's home kit had consisted of red socks, red shorts, and a red shirt. Their away kit was identical but white. The kits were provided by Nike.

On the 1st of September 2008 Russia have signed a 8 year contract with kit manufacturer adidas. This is not yet known or confirmed if this has happened because of the conflict with Georgia or the tense political situation with the USA

In the qualifying session for Euro 96, when Reebok provided the kits, they appeared in four different strips.