Brazilian football team to play friendly match with Russia in Moscow on March 23

MOSCOW, October 17. /TASS/. The Russian and Brazilian national football teams will meet to play a friendly match in Moscow on March 23, the press service of the Russian Football Union (RFU) announced on Tuesday. The venue and the time of the football match will be announced later, according to the RFU press service. "The Russian Football Union announces officially that an agreement has been reached on one of two scheduled friendly matches of the Russian national football team in March 2018," the RFU statement said. "The Russian team will play a home friendly match against the national team of Brazil on March 23 in Moscow," the statement said. "The stadium and the time will be disclosed later." Late last year, Fernando Sarney, the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, told TASS that a friendly match between the Russian and Brazilian national football squads was most likely to be organized in March 2018 at one of the Russian stadiums. Sarney also said that Brazil was ready to send its best lineup, including top players such as Neymar, for a friendly match against the Russian squad. National teams around the globe have been playing qualifying matches to earn a place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, while Russia as the host nation was guaranteed a berth in the world’s main quadrennial football event. Therefore, the Russian national team is playing friendly football matches in the run-up to the much anticipated 2018 FIFA World Cup. This month the Russian national football squad played two friendly fixtures, namely against South Korea in Moscow on October 7 (4-2) and Iran on October 10 in Kazan (1-1). The main round of the global qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup has been already concluded and nine remaining vacant spots in the championship will be determined in the playoff round. The teams, which already qualified for the next year’s championship are hosts Russia, Brazil, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Belgium, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Germany, England, Spain, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Poland, Egypt, Iceland, Serbia, France, Portugal, Panama, Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina. The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums in 11 different cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital of Moscow. Read more