Russia national football team

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Russia

Association

Football Union of Russia

Confederation

UEFA (Europe)

Head coach

Guus Hiddink (2006-)

Asst coach

Aleksandr Borodyuk

Captain

Andrei Arshavin

Most caps

Viktor Onopko (109)

Top scorer

Vladimir Beschastnykh (26)

FIFA code

RUS

FIFA ranking

Highest FIFA ranking

3 (April-June 1996)

Lowest FIFA ranking

40 (December 1998)

Elo ranking

Highest Elo ranking

8 (June 1996)

Lowest Elo ranking

34 (2005, 2006)





First kit





Second kit

First international

Finland 2 - 1 Imperial Russia

(Stockholm, Sweden; 30 June 1912)

Russia 2 - 0 Mexico

(Moscow, Russia; 16 August 1992)

Biggest win

Russia 7 - 0 San Marino

(San Marino, San Marino; 7 June 1995)

Biggest defeat

Imperial Germany 16 - 0 Imperial Russia

(Stockholm, Sweden; 1 July 1912)

Portugal 7 - 1 Russia

(Lisbon, Portugal; 13 October 2004)

World Cup

Appearances

2 (First in 1994)

Best result

Round 1, 1994 and 2002

European Championship

Appearances

2 (First in 1996)

Best result

Round 1, 1996 and 2004

The Russia national football team is the national football team of Russia and is controlled by the Football Union of Russia.

The team qualified for two World Cups (1994, 2002) and three European Championships (1996, 2004, 2008), but failed to get beyond the first round on any occasion.

FIFA considers the Russia national team the direct descendant of the CIS and USSR national teams.

1 History
2 Kits
3 World Cup record
4 European Championship record
5 Qualifying campaigns
6 Managers
7 Squad
8 Famous players
9 See also
10 References
11 External links

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.

In the 1994 World Cup, Russia was drawn into group B with Cameroon, Sweden, and Brazil. Russia lost 2-0 to Brazil and 3-1 to Sweden in its first two games. Eliminated already, Russia defeated Cameroon 6-1 with Oleg Salenko scoring a record five goals. Russia was eliminated from the tournament with three points from one win and two losses.

Two years later Russia qualified for Euro 96 and was drawn into Group C with Germany, Czech Republic, and Italy. Group C was considered the 'group of death' with Russia dubbed the weakest team. Russia lost 2-1 to Italy and 3-0 to Germany. In their last game, Russia fought to a creditable 3-3 draw against the Czech Republic.

Between 1993 and 1997, Russia was in the top twenty FIFA world rankings^[1] but failed to qualify for the 1998 World Cup. However the Euro 2000 qualifying campaign witnessed a historic victory 3-2 over then-World Champions France at the Stade de France in Paris on 5 June 1999.

At the 2002 World Cup in Korea-Japan, Russia was drawn into group H with Belgium, Tunisia, and Japan. Group H was considered the weakest group of the tournament and Russia were considered serious contenders to qualify for the second round. The Russian squad, led by Oleg Romantsev, contained a mix of experienced veterans and fresh debutants like Viktor Onopko and Valery Karpin. In their first game Russia achieved a comfortable 2-0 win against Tunisia. After much media hype and determination from Russian fans, Russia were determined to defeat Japan. However in the 51st minute, Japan took a 1-0 lead and held out to win the game while riots erupted in Moscow. In their last game against Belgium, there was again much determination for victory. In the 7th minute Belgium took the lead with a goal from Walem but a 52nd minute Russian equaliser from Titov leveled the score. Drama began to unfold in the last 12 minutes when Belgium restored the lead with a free kick goal from Sonck and took a 3-1 lead with an 82nd minute goal from Wilmots. A goal at 88 minutes from Sychev could not save Russia as they lost 3-2. Russia were eliminated with 3 points, from one win and two losses. The 2002 campaign was regarded as one in which Russia could have avoided simple mistakes to qualify for the second round.

In Euro 2004, Russia was in group A with Greece, Spain, and Portugal for the final tournament. Russia were expected to be eliminated from the group along with Greece. Led by Georgi Yartsev, the squad was made up of veterans from the 2002 World Cup campaign with the likes of Alexei Smertin, Dmitri Sennikov, Dmitri Alenichev, and Alexander Mostovoi as well as rising stars Evgeni Aldonin, Dmitri Kirichenko, and Aleksandr Kerzhakov. On June 12, the first day of the tournament, Russia lost to Spain 1-0. They were able to hold out the Spanish attack throughout the first half but fell to Juan Carlos Valeron's left foot strike after 60 minutes. The game turned even worse after Roman Sharonov received a red card for a second booking. Four days later, Russia faced hosts Portugal. Having lost their opening match to Greece, Portugal, were determined to win. Russia fell to a quick seventh minute goal from Maniche. Portugal began to dominate the game and things turned worse for Russia as Sergei Ovchinnikov was sent off for handling outside the area. Substitute keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev made some fine saves but could not stop Rui Costa's close range shot as Portugal won 2-0. Despite being eliminated, Russia and were looking to console their fans in their last game against Greece. Russian striker Dmitri Kirichenko scored in the 2nd minute with a shot outside the penalty area to catch the Greek defence by surprise. Dmitry Bulykin scored a 17th minute header off a Rolan Gusev corner to give Russia a 2-0 lead. Russia dominated the game, but Zisis Vryzas was able to pull a goal back just before halftime to put Greece into the quarterfinals. Russia, held on to win 2-1 and console their fans as they were eliminated from Euro 2004.

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 September 4, 2004 in Moscow. They seemed to pick up some pace with 4-0 win over Lxembourg, but suffered a 7-1 thrashing defeat against Portugal in Lisbon. Victories against Estonia in and Liechtenstein seemed to put them back on track but a 1-1 draw with Estonia on March 30, 2005 in Tallinn was a major disappointment which saw the end of Georgi Yarstev's reign. Under new manager Yuri Semin, Russia were able to rekindle their hopes with a very convincing 2-0 win against Latvia. However, in the return game Russia only managed a 1-1 draw in Riga on August 17, 2005. Russia seemed to redeem themselves with curcial victories against Liechtenstien, Luxembourg and a respectible 0-0 draw against Portugal. On October 12, 2005 Russia needed to win against Slovakia in Bratislava as both teams had near identical records. After a suspenseful 0-0 draw Slovakia advanced to the playoffs above Russia on goal difference. Russia finished third with 23 points from six wins, five draws, and one loss (their biggest loss ever, 7-1 against Portugal in Lisbon) failing to qualify for the play-offs by a point.

Having failed to qualify Russia for the 2006 World Cup, Yuri Semin stepped down several weeks later and Russia began looking for a foreign manager. 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 poorly 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. On September 8, 2007, Russia defeated Macedonia 3-0. During the game Russian goalkeeper Vladimir Gaboulov was sent off for bringing down Goran Maznov in the area. substitute keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev saved the penalty and Russia went on to score two more goals from Andrei Arshavin and Aleksandr Kerzhakov. 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 have Russia amazingly 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 shock 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 shock 3-2 defeat to Croatia at Wembley. Russia were able to qualify in second place with 24 points above England who had 23 points.

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

Russia's home kit currently an all white strip or red socks, blue shorts, and a white shirt. Their away kit consisits of a blue socks, white shorts, and a red shirt. The kits are currently provided by Nike.

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1994	Round 1	18	3	1	0	2	7	6
1998	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	Round 1	22	3	1	0	2	4	4
2006	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	2/4	-	6	2	0	4	11	10

Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1996	Round 1	3	0	1	2	4	8
2000	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2004	Round 1	3	1	0	2	2	4
2008	Qualified	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	3/4	6	1	1	4	6	12

FIFA World Cup	European Football Championship
1994 - Finished 2nd in Qualifying group, qualified for WC 1994	1996 - Finished 1st in Qualifying group, qualified for Euro 1996
1998 - Finished 2nd in Qualifying group, lost to Italy in playoffs	2000 - Finished 3rd in Qualifying group
2002 - Finished 1st in Qualifying group, qualified for WC 2002	2004 - Finished 2nd in Qualifying group, beat Wales in playoffs to qualify for Euro 2004
2006 - Finished 3rd in Qualifying group	2008 - Finished 2nd in Qualifying group, qualified for Euro 2008
2010 - Qualification in progress

Guus Hiddink, the current manager

Pavel Sadyrin (1992–1994)
Oleg Romantsev (1994–1996, 1999–2002)
Boris Ignatyev (1996–1998)
Anatoly Byshovets (1998)
Valery Gazzaev (2002–2003)
Georgi Yartsev (2003–2005)
Yuri Semin (2005)
Aleksandr Borodyuk (2006), caretaker
Guus Hiddink (since July 2006)

This is the squad called up for the matches against Israel on 17 November 2007 and Andorra on 21 November 2007.

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)
Igor Akinfeev	8 April 1986	CSKA Moscow	17 (0)
Vyacheslav Malafeev	4 March 1979	Zenit Saint Petersburg	15 (0)
Vladimir Gaboulov	19 October 1983	Kuban Krasnodar	5 (0)

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)
Sergey Ignashevich	14 July 1979	CSKA Moscow	34 (3)
Aleksei Berezutskiy	20 June 1982	CSKA Moscow	30 (0)
Aleksandr Anyukov	28 September 1982	Zenit Saint Petersburg	29 (1)
Vasili Berezutskiy	20 June 1982	CSKA Moscow	25 (1)
Denis Kolodin	11 January 1982	Dynamo Moscow	10 (0)

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)
Igor Semshov	6 April 1978	Dynamo Moscow	23 (0)
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov	27 February 1985	Lokomotiv Moscow	19 (1)
Yuri Zhirkov	20 August 1983	CSKA Moscow	16 (0)
Konstantin Zyryanov	5 October 1977	Zenit Saint Petersburg	9 (0)
Dmitry Torbinsky	28 April 1984	Spartak Moscow	7 (0)
Ivan Saenko	17 October 1983	1. FC Nürnberg	5 (0)
Viktor Budyansky	12 January 1984	Udinese Calcio	2 (0)
Roman Shirokov	6 July 1981	Zenit Saint Petersburg	0 (0)

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)
Aleksandr Kerzhakov	27 November 1982	Sevilla FC	44 (13)
Dmitriy Sychev	26 October 1983	Lokomotiv Moscow	37 (14)
Andrei Arshavin	29 May 1981	Zenit Saint Petersburg	33 (10)
Roman Pavlyuchenko	15 December 1981	Spartak Moscow	13 (4)
Pavel Pogrebnyak	8 November 1983	Zenit Saint Petersburg	7 (2)

Player	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Position	Latest call-up
Anton Shunin	27 January 1987	Dynamo Moscow	1 (0)	Goalkeeper	17 October 2007, England
Vladimir Bystrov	31 January 1984	Spartak Moscow	16 (2)	Midfielder	12 September 2007, England
Roman Vorobyov	24 March 1984	Khimki	1 (0)	Midfielder	12 September 2007, England
Ivan Taranov	22 June 1986	CSKA Moscow	0 (0)	Defender	12 September 2007, England
Roman Shishkin	27 January 1987	Spartak Moscow	1 (0)	Defender	6 June 2007, Croatia
Dmitri Borodin	8 October 1977	Torpedo Moscow	0 (0)	Goalkeeper	6 June 2007, Croatia
Aleksey Rebko	23 April 1986	Spartak Moscow	0 (0)	Midfielder	6 June 2007, Croatia
Sergei Efimov	15 October 1987	Lokomotiv Moscow	0 (0)	Defender	6 June 2007, Croatia
Yevgeny Aldonin	22 January 1980	CSKA Moscow	29 (0)	Midfielder	24 March 2007, Estonia
Yevgeniy Savin	19 April 1984	Amkar Perm	0 (0)	Striker	24 March 2007, Estonia
Igor Denisov	17 May 1984	Zenit Saint Petersburg	0 (0)	Midfielder	24 March 2007, Estonia
Egor Titov	29 May 1976	Spartak Moscow	41 (7)	Midfielder	7 February 2007, Netherlands