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

Most caps

Viktor Onopko (109)

Top scorer

Vladimir Beschastnykh (26)

FIFA code

RUS

FIFA ranking

Highest FIFA ranking

3 (April 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.

Since the breakup of the USSR, Russian football has struggled to show the level the USSR team showed in the Communist era; a significant number of the USSR's players came from the other republics. The team qualified for two World Cups (1994, 2002) and two European Championships (1996, 2004), but failed to get beyond the first round on either occasion.

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

1 History
2 World Cup record
3 European Championship record
4 Managers
5 Squad
6 Famous players
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History

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

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

Two years later Russia qualified for the 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. In their first game Russia lost to Italy 2-1 and to Germany 3-0. In their last game Russia fought to a creditable 3-3 draw against the Czech Republic. Euro 96 also saw the depature of many late Soviet era players.

Between 1997 and 1999, Russia was in the top twenty FIFA world rankings but failed to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. However the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign witnessed a historic victory 3-2 over over 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. This was considered by many as the weakest group of the tournament with Russia and Japan to qualify to the second round due to weak Belgian and Tunisian sides. In their first game Russia achieved a comfortable 2-0 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 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 goal from Sonck and took a 3-1 lead in the 82nd minute from Wilmots. A goal two minutes from time 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 the Euro 2004, Russia was drawn into group A with Greece, Spain, and Portugal. On the first day of the tournament Russia lost to Spain 1-0 and four days later lost to Portugal 2-0. However on June 16, Russia surprisingly defeated Greece 2-1 with Kirichenko scoring in the 2nd minute and Bulykin later scoring in the 17th minute. However Russia was eliminated from Euro 2004.

In the World Cup 2006 qualifying tournament Russia was drawn into group 3 with Portugal, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. Portugal quickly took first place and Russia trailed Slovakia for second place. On October 12, 2005 Russia needed to win against Slovakia in Bratislava. After a suspensful 0-0 draw Slovakia advanced to the playoffs. Russia finished third with 23 points from six wins, five draws, and one loss failing to qualify for Germany 2006.

Russia are currently playing in the Euro 2008 qualifiers in group E with England, Croatia, Israel, FYR Macedonia, Estonia, and Andorra. Russia began their Euro 2008 campaign with a relitivly poor start by drawing with Croatia 0-0 and Israel 1-1. They picked up momentum in with a 2-0 win against FYR Macedonia, and 2-0 home and away wins against Estonia.

[edit] World Cup record

1930 to 1990 - See USSR
1994 - Round 1
1998 - Did not qualify
2002 - Round 1
2006 - Did not qualify

[edit] European Championship record

1960 to 1988 - See USSR
1992 - See CIS
1996 - Round 1
2000 - Did not qualify
2004 - Round 1

[edit] Managers

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)
Guus Hiddink (since July 2006)

[edit] Squad

This is the squad called up for the match against Estonia on 24 March 2007.

Vladimir Bystrov (Spartak Moscow)
Dmitry Torbinsky (Spartak Moscow)
Igor Semshov (Dynamo)
Igor Denisov (Zenit)
Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit)
Ivan Saenko (1. FC Nürnberg)
Andrey Arshavin (Zenit)
Dmitry Sychev (Lokomotiv)
Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Sevilla FC)
Yevgeniy Savin (Amkar)

[edit] Famous players

This lists players who have played most or all of their international careers in the Russian era. For notable players from the USSR era, see USSR national football team.