Russian sports minister discusses Iran ties
Russian Premier League champions Zenit St. Petersburg and Iranian team Sepahan have signed a memorandum of cooperation, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said on Thursday.
The Russian Sports Ministry gave its backing to the deal, which according to Matytsin will see the two clubs face one another in a friendly match in Iran on November 27.
Matytsin said the game was “one of the aspects of interaction in the field of football” between the two countries after meeting with the Iranian ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, to discuss cooperation between the two countries.
“With the support of the Ministry of Sports, a memorandum of cooperation between the clubs was signed, a productive dialogue was established, [and] an active exchange of teams is underway to participate in tournaments,” he added in a statement shared by TASS.
Matytsin also said that Iranian coaches are being trained at Russia’s Center for Advanced Studies.
A match between eight-time Russian championship winners Zenit and five-time Iranian champions Sepahan is set to come in the same month as a planned friendly game the Russian and Iranian men’s national football teams.
In September, Russia played their first match since November last year when they won 2-1 against Kyrgyzstan at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Bishkek.
Valery Karpin’s men were also set to take on Bosnia and Herzegovina at Zenit’s Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg on November 19, although Bosnian football authorities have since postponed a decision on whether to precede with the fixture.
A decision could be made at a meeting of their organization’s executive board at the end of October, with the match facing opposition from the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF).
Russia was banned from qualifying for international football competitions such as the 2022 World Cup and 2024 European Championship, after FIFA and UEFA acted on an International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendation following the onset of the military operation in Ukraine in February.
Ukrainian football officials are also trying to get the Russian Football Union (RFU) excluded permanently by FIFA and UEFA, due to the plans for clubs from four new Russian territories to be integrated into its national leagues.
