MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. The Iranian people will be watching with great interest tonight when their national football team takes on Russia in a friendly match, Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali told TASS on Tuesday.

The Russian national football squad is set to meet Iran in a friendly match in Kazan, the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan, on Tuesday night. The match will be played at the more than 43,000-seat AK Bars Arena in Kazan and is scheduled to kick off at 7:00 p.m. local time (4:00 p.m. GMT).

"All of Iran will be watching the football match," the Iranian diplomat said in an interview with TASS adding that he expected an exciting match.

The press office of the Russian Football Union (RFU) announced a couple of days ago that over 26,000 tickets had been sold for the upcoming match, which will be officially registered by the world’s governing body of football, FIFA.

TASS previously reported that the national anthem of Russia before the match will be performed by Elmira Kalimullina, who is the People’s Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan.

The RFU also earlier announced that it dedicated the national team’s matches to the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia. Russia’s band ‘Rasa’ will be performing ahead of the games, showcasing traditions of Russian and Tatar cultures.

Russia and Iran have played against each other four times before - all in exhibition matches. In their most recent encounter in Russia’s Volgograd in October 2025, the hosts defeated the Iranian team 2-1. The other three matches ended in two draws and one Iranian win.

The world’s governing football body, FIFA, announced on February 28, 2022, that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from participating in FIFA tournaments.

In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision regarding the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.

Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.