Russia may play friendly football match against Tajikistan in late 2025

A friendly football match between the national teams of Russia and Tajikistan is possible either in late 2025 or early 2026, the press office of the Football Federation of Tajikistan (FFT) said.

It was noted that everything will depend on the country’s possible progress regarding the qualifying matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

"We are third in the group as of today where the top two teams would advance to the 2027 Asian Cup and continue playing for a trip to the [FIFA] World Cup. If our national team is through to the next round, then we are set to play matches within the World Cup qualifiers,"  the statement reads.

It means that the friendly match against Russia can be played either in late 2025 or in early 2026, the FFT said.

"There were no talks as of yet about holding a friendly match with the Russian national team and it is still too early to speak about it,  the statement reads.

The Russian national football team played an away friendly match against Tajikistan on November 17, 2022, ending in a scoreless draw.