Russia and Iran will play a friendly soccer match in October.

The Iranian national football team is planning to play a friendly match with the Russian national team in preparation for the 2026 World Cup. This was announced on March 26 by the head of the Iranian Football Federation, Mehdi Taj.

"On October 5, we have a friendly match with the Russian team, on October 14 we will play a game with the Chilean team," Tasnim News agency quoted him as saying.

Before that, the Russian and Iranian national teams had played each other three times. In 2011, the team of the Middle Eastern state won with a score of 1:0. Subsequent meetings in 2017 and 2023 ended in a 1-1 draw.

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How likely is the idea to be realized against the background of warming bilateral relations between the countries?

Earlier, on March 25, the Russian national team defeated Zambia in a friendly match, which took place at the VTB Arena stadium in Moscow, with a score of 5:0. Striker Maxim Glushenkov was able to score a hat-trick, scoring goals in the 8th, 54th and 58th minutes.