Serbia still has close ties with Russia. The Serbian men’s national football team is scheduled to face Russia next month in Moscow.
No European country has agreed to play a men’s soccer match against Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. However, this is about to change, as Serbia plans to play in March in Moscow in the men’s international match against Russia, which has started a war of aggression.
Although the European Football Association (Uefa) has banned Russia from participating in all its competitions, Uefa has allowed news agency AP along with permission for the match. According to UEFA, friendly matches against Russia are not prohibited.
The Serbian Football Association has close ties to Russia. The Russian energy company Gazprom continues to sponsor the Serbian Red Star Belgrade, the most successful football club in Serbia. Uefa ended its long cooperation with Gazprom right after the war in Ukraine started. Gazprom is Russia’s largest company and the world’s largest producer of natural gas.
Since the start of the war, Russia has not participated in international football. The Russian men’s national team has only played friendly matches against Asian and African countries and Cuba. Russia was supposed to play an international match against Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of 2022, but the match was canceled when the players of Bosnia and Herzegovina protested the match.
Last year, the Russian women’s national team played matches against Belarus, China, Iran and Paraguay.