National team moment: Dzyuba can set a goalscoring record in the national team

The Russian national football team has begun preparations for the March friendly matches. In the coming weeks, Valery Karpin's team will meet with Grenada and Zambia in Moscow. The main event of the training camp was the call-up of Akron striker Artyom Dzyuba to the national team. The hero of the 2018 home World Cup has not played for her for almost four years. Now he can beat Alexander Kerzhakov's record for goals for the national team.

Dzyuba's Return

Back in early March, when the head coach of the national team, Valery Karpin, published an expanded list of players for the March matches, Dzyuba was not on it. Therefore, when he appeared on the final list on March 13, it became the main sensation of Russian football in the first three months of 2025.

The intrigue surrounding whether Karpin could call Dzyuba to the national team has arisen in the past two years, although given the history of their relationship, it seemed that under the current head coach, the road to the national team was closed to Artyom. Nevertheless, journalists asked Valery Georgievich about this topic whenever Dzyuba had productive stretches in clubs.

And although Karpin did not say that Dzyuba had no chance, he always stressed that during the suspension of the national team from official competitions, football players under the age of 30 would be called up to it. This age limit does not apply only to goalkeepers.

Dzyuba himself has expressed a desire to play for the national team in recent months. However, sometimes he did it in a very shocking way. So, in September 2024, in an interview with Izvestia, Artyom said that he was "ready to play against Vietnam, Cuba, Guatemala and Cambodia, even drunk." It seemed like an irony about the weak opponents our national team sometimes plays against.

The March inclusion of Douglas Santos in the expanded list contradicted the concept of the age limit — the Brazilian defender of Zenit, who received Russian citizenship last year, reached his 30th birthday on March 22, 2024. Interestingly, he wasn't on the final list, but Dzyuba got there.

In total, he scored 30 goals in 55 matches for the Russian national team. Alexander Kerzhakov has the same amount. Not so long ago, Artyom broke Kerzhakov's record for goals in official matches during his career among Russians — now he has 235 goals on his account. Alexander has 233.

Dzyuba's last match for the national team was in June 2021 at the European Championship. Then, in the final round of the group stage, our team lost to Denmark (1:4). After that, the head coach of the national team, Stanislav Cherchesov, was dismissed. Soon Karpin was put in his place. Even then, it was clear that a difficult situation had developed around Dzyuba due to their long-standing conflict with Karpin, when he was the CEO and head coach of Spartak in 2008-2014, and Artyom played for the red-whites.

In September 2021, Karpin added Dzyuba to the expanded list for the upcoming selection matches for the 2022 World Cup, but Artyom refused, citing poor form. And although both sides publicly stated that they understood each other, this was perceived as another stage of the conflict.

"We can be happy for Artyom that he finally got this call—up to the national team," Dmitry Bulykin, a former striker of the national team, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — He's having a good season, showing good performance with Akron this spring. Three goals in four Russian League and Cup matches in March is a very good statistic. We must pay tribute to Karpin that he made the challenge based on a sporting principle. Given the level of his closest rivals, Dzyuba has a good chance of surpassing Kerzhakov's record.

The place factor

Dzyuba's challenge may not be accidental due to the level of the opponents and the venue of the upcoming matches. At the end of February, it was announced that Russia would play Zambia in Moscow at the VTB Arena stadium in March. In addition, she will have a home game with Nigeria and an away game with Belarus in June. The class of the Nigerian national team is well known to everyone, but Zambia is much weaker. And Grenada, which appeared a little later among the rivals, is located closer to the end of the second hundred of the FIFA rating.

Usually, matches with such rivals attract high attendance in the regions, as it was in Volgograd and Krasnodar, where ours hosted Cuba, Brunei and Syria. In Moscow, people are massively going only to strong rivals like Cameroon (1-0) and Serbia (4-0), with whom Russia played at the same VTB Arena in October 2023 and March 2024.

It is not yet known how much the RFU will be able to achieve high attendance for matches with Grenada and Zambia. The excitement of Dzyuba's return, given his increased media exposure, may help. But RFU President Alexander Dyukov denies that anyone influenced Karpin's decision to summon Artyom based on this factor.

"This is Valery Georgievich's decision — Dzyuba deserves a call—up to the national team," RFU President Alexander Dyukov told Izvestia. — I had no influence on this decision — it was made by the head coach. When Valery Georgievich made this decision, it is unlikely that he was thinking about attracting additional fans.

It is worth noting that the RFU had limited options regarding the venues for the matches with Grenada and Zambia, as it was necessary to take into account convenient logistics for both teams. So, even in Nizhny Novgorod, which is close to Moscow, it was impossible to play, since now the local football arena has attendance restrictions due to the construction of a new hockey stadium next to it.

"We make decisions about the venue based on various circumstances, including logistics,— Alexander Dyukov explained to Izvestia. — At the moment, there is a VTB Arena with a well-prepared lawn. And in terms of logistics, this is the optimal location for our closest rivals. Was it possible to hold matches in Nizhny Novgorod? There are restrictions on attendance there now. We will hold matches there when the construction of the ice arena is completed and the football stadium is allowed to be fully filled.

Dzyuba's challenge was not the only surprise in the national team. So, Zenit midfielder Maxim Glushenkov turned out to be in it, and there were also talks about his disagreements with the head coach. In addition, Anton Miranchuk, a midfielder from Swiss Sion, will come from Europe — this is his first time in the national team after leaving Lokomotiv in the summer. The matches against Grenada and Zambia will be played on March 19 and 25, respectively.