Russia History

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Description

Name: Russia national football team
Association Football Union of Russia
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach: Guus Hiddink (2006- )
Asst coach: Aleksandr Borodyuk
Captain: Sergei Semak


 

Overview

The Russia national football team, controlled by the Football Union of Russia, is regarded by FIFA as the direct successor of the CIS and USSR national teams. The national team has qualified for 2 World Cups and 3 European Championships. Its home kit includes an all white strip or red socks, blue shorts, and a white shirt. For international matches, its kit includes blue socks, white shorts, and a red shirt.

The main competitions that the national team participates in are the World Cup and the European Championship. The Russian Cup is another main cup competition in which only professional clubs can take part. There also is a competition for the amateur football clubs, called the Amateur Football League Cup. The winners of this Cup are promoted to the Second Division. Some of the clubs that vie to participate and win in all of these competitions are Spartak Mascow, Lokomotiv Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Alania Vladikavkaz, Zenit St. Petersburg, and Dynamo Moscow.


 

World Cup and European Championship

On August 16, 1992 the national team played its first international match against Mexico. The team had a noble beginning during their early years, playing in several tournaments and displaying some respectable performances. After Euro '96, the team's next goal was to win the 1998 World Cup in France. Of all the teams, Russia and Bulgaria were the main contenders who qualified from the group. Russia won its matches against Luxembourg and Cyprus and drew against Cyprus and Israel. Its only defeat came in a match against Bulgaria. However, Russia ended its campaign with a qualification for the play-off spot. Unfortunately, the national team was defeated in the subsequent matches and Russia failed to qualify for the World Cup.

Russia was adamant to qualify for the 2000 European Championships. Russia had to play against Iceland, Armenia, France, Ukraine and Andorra in the qualifying round. The two teams that were considered as favorites were Russia and France. But unfortunately the Russian team was defeated by France, Ukraine and Iceland. With the sacking of Byshovets and re-appointment of Oleg Romantsev, the team went on to win their next six games. However, with six wins, one draw, and three losses Russia slipped to third place and thereby failed to qualify for its second major tournament.

In the preliminary stage of the 2002 World Cup, Russia had to play against Switzerland, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Slovenia and FR Yugoslavia. With seven wins, two draws, and a loss, Russia finished the campaign in first place and qualified. During the tournament itself, Russia had to play against Tunisia, Japan and Belgium. Russia had a comfortable win against Tunisia in the first game. The team was also confident enough to defeat Japan, but Japan won the match by 1-0. The match against Belgium was also equally exciting but towards the end Russia failed to take opportunities and was eventually defeated by 3-2. With only one win and two losses, Russia was eliminated from the 2002 campaign.

During Euro 2004, Russia was considered to be a weaker team when compared against Spain, Portugal and France. Russia lost the first match against Spain by 1-0 and subsequently lost the second one against Portugal. The last match against Greece was dominated by the Russian team and it finally won the match 2-1. In the 2006 World Cup qualifying round, Russia failed to qualify for the play-offs despite six wins, five draws and one loss. For the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, the Russian team appointed Guus Hiddink as the manager. The team began its campaign with a poor start but later displayed some good performances. The team qualified by finishing in second place in its group with 24 points in total. 

 
 
Russia 2 vs England 1
 
Created on: 6/1/2008
 
By: marcelo
 
Tags:
Russia,  
 
 

 
 
Russia 3 Bosnia 0
 
Created on: 6/1/2008
 
By: marcelo
 
Tags:
Russia,  
 
 


 

Russian Stars

The Russian Premier League is recouping, thanks to enormous sponsorships and improved competitiveness. Several competent players have and are still contributing to the success of Russian football. Some of them are Igor Akinfeev, Vyacheslav Malafeev, Sergei Ovchinnikov, Yuri Zhirkov, Andrei Arshavin, Dmitri Kirichenko, Dmitry Sychev, Alexander Kerzhakov, Egor Titov, Sergei Semak, Yevgeny Aldonin, Marat Izmailov, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Vladimir Bystrov, Aleksei Berezutskiy, Sergei Ignashevich, Aleksandr Anyukov, Roman Shishkin, Vadim Evseev, Denis Kolodin, and Pavel Pogrebnyak. Foreign players like Garry O’Connor, Vagner Love, Dudu Cearense, Martin Stranzl, Elvir Rahimic, Clemente Rodriguez, Ivica Olic, Francisco Lima, Maksym Kalynychenko, Anatoliy Tymoschuk, Deividas Semberas, Fernando Ricksen, Fatih Tekke, Malkhaz Asatiani, Mikheil Ashvetia, and Dramane Traore have also contributed to the sport in Russia. The brightest football star of Russia is considered to be goalkeeper Lev Yashin, who was with the team during its golden years in 1950s and 1960s.


 

Statistics

Russia has several venues for football. Some of the most important of these include:

•    Spartak with a capacity to seat 80,600 spectators
•    FC Zenit St. Petersburg with a capacity to seat 80,000 spectators
•    FC Dinamo with a capacity to seat 37,000 spectators
•    CSKA Moskva with a capacity to seat 37,000 spectators
•    Alania with a capacity to seat 36,000 spectators
•    FC Lokomotiv with a capacity to seat 30,000 spectators
•    FC Rubin Kazan with a capacity to seat 25,000 spectators
•    FC Shinnik Yaroslavl with a capacity to seat 22,984 spectators
•    FC Terek Chechenskaya Respublika with a capacity to seat 22,300 spectators
•    FC Amkar with a capacity to seat 20,000 spectators


 

Facts & Figures

•    Governing body - Football Union of Russia
•    Affiliatoin – UEFA (Europe)
•    Major international tournaments – World Cup, European Championship
•    Major domestic tournament – Russian Cup
•    First international match – Against Mexico in August 1992
•    Best result in World Cup – First round in 1994, 2002
•    Best result in European Championship – First round in 1994, 2006
•    Most memorable win – 7-0 win against San Marino in June 1995
•    Worst defeat – 1-7 loss against Portugal in October 2004


Squad
NamePositionGrade FansGroups
Sergei Ignashevich
Defense
5
 0
Vassili Berezoutski
Defense
3
 0
Yuri Zhirkov
Midfield
80
 0
Igor Akinfeev
Goal
96
 0
Igor Semshov
Midfield
4
 0
Alexander Kerzhakov
Offense
12
0
Alexander Anyukov
Defense
20
 0
Diniyar Rinatovich Bilyaletdinov
Midfield
12
0
Roman Pavlyuchenko
Offense
204
 0
Andrey Arshavin
Midfield
1012
0
Pavel Pogrebnyak
Offense
54
 0
Konstantin Zyryanov
Midfield
18
 0
Igor Denisov
Midfield
10
 0
Alan Dzagoev
Midfield
25
 0
Taras Burlak
Defense
0
 0
Dmitri Torbinski
Midfield
5
 0
Renat Yanbayev
Defense
2
0
Alexei Berezoutski
Defense
2
0
Last edited by:
On: August 29, 2009
Version: 9