This information should be treated with caution. According to the coach of the Russian soccer team, next week’s friendly between Russia and Cuba will be taken into account by FIFA and will distribute points for the world ranking. Valery Karpin assured the media on Wednesday January 15: “There will be six substitutions during the match, which means that the match will officially count towards FIFA’s world ranking.” The friendly between Russia and Cuba will be played on November 20 in Volgograd, in the south of Russia, in a 45,000-seat stadium built for the World Cup in 2018. The stadium previously hosted four group-stage matches. Since its suspension by FIFA and UEFA in February 2022, Russia has played a large number of friendly matches, but has been unable to take part in any official competition. They have met Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq, and more recently Cameroon and Kenya. Despite the suspension, the team is still ranked 39th in the FIFA world rankings.
