Russian national soccer team / world championships

Russian Federation
Российская Федерация or Россия Rossijskaja Federazija or Rossija

World Cup record goalscorer:	Oleg Salenko (6)
World Cup record players:	Lev Yashin (13 for the USSR) Igor Akinfejew , Sergei Ignaschewitsch and Alexander Samedow (8 each for Russia)
Rank :	12 (including the results of the USSR)
Organizer:	2018
Balance sheet
14 World Cup games 4 wins 4 draws 6 defeats 24:20 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Russia 0-2 Brazil San Francisco ( USA ); June 20, 1994
Biggest World Cup victories Russia 6: 1 Cameroon San Francisco ( USA ); June 28, 1994 Russia 5-0 Saudi Arabia Moscow ( RUS ); June 14, 2018
Biggest World Cup defeat Russia 0: 3 Uruguay Samara ( RUS ); June 25, 2018
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	4 ( first : 1994 )
Best results	Quarterfinals 2018
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(Status: July 7, 2018 World Cup )

The article contains a detailed description of the Russian national soccer team at world championships . The Russian team is seen by FIFA as the successor to the national soccer team of the USSR and their successes are attributed to Russia. In the all-time ranking , Russia is therefore in 12th place. Russia has taken part in the finals of the World Cup four times so far, while the USSR team has taken seven. In 2018, Russia hosted the finals, qualifying automatically and reaching the quarter-finals.

overview

Russia was part of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991 , Russian players made up the main contingent of the Soviet national team alongside the Ukrainian players. B. Lev Yashin , who took part in the World Cup with the USSR in 1958 , 1962 , 1966 and 1970 and always survived the preliminary round. The best placement was fourth place in 1966. The Russian team was unable to build on their successes and was always eliminated in the preliminary round before 2018. In 2018, the home advantage and the associated positioning as a group head could be used and the group phase survived for the first time.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1994	United States	Preliminary round	Brazil , Sweden , Cameroon	18th	Pavel Sadyrin	Oleg Salenko is the first and so far only player in World Cup history to score five goals in one game. With 6 goals he becomes top scorer together with Christo Stoitschkow . To this day he is the only top scorer on a team that was eliminated in the preliminary round.
1998	France	not qualified				In the play-off qualification in Italy failed after the group stage behind Bulgaria 2nd place was occupied
2002	South Korea / Japan	Preliminary round	Tunisia , Japan , Belgium	22nd	Oleg Romanzew
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification of Portugal and Slovakia failed, which also failed in the play-offs
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the play-offs of the qualification , Slovenia failed after they finished 2nd behind Germany in the group stage
2014	Brazil	Preliminary round	South Korea , Belgium , Algeria	24.	Fabio Capello
2018	Russia	Quarter finals	Croatia	8th.	Stanislav Cherchessov	Host of the 1st World Cup in Eastern Europe

World Cup tournaments

1994 in the United States

In qualifying for the World Cup in the USA, which was drawn on December 8, 1991, the USSR should compete in a group of six against Greece , Iceland , Hungary , Luxembourg and Yugoslavia . After the collapse of the Soviet Union , the Russian team took the place of the USSR. Since Yugoslavia was suspended due to the UN sanctions, the games against Yugoslavia were canceled. On October 14, 1992, the Russians met Iceland in their first World Cup qualifier and won 1-0. The next two games against Luxembourg and the game against Hungary were won without conceding a goal. This was followed by two draws and a victory with conceding a goal in Hungary, so that Greece and Russia were equal on points before the last game, but the Russians had the better goal difference. Since both were already four points ahead of Third Iceland, it was all about winning the group, because both had already qualified for the World Cup for the first time. In Greece, the Russians then lost 1-0 and finished second in the group.

In the USA, the Russians met eventual world champions Brazil in their first game and lost 2-0. After a 1: 3 in the second game against Sweden , where Oleg Salenko scored the first World Cup goal for Russia in the fourth minute with a converted penalty, the Russians were already eliminated. In the last game that was meaningless, they won 6-1 against Cameroon . Salenko was the first and so far only player in World Cup history to score five goals in one game. Together with the Bulgarian Christo Stoitschkow , who also scored six goals but in seven games, he was the top scorer as the first player to be eliminated in the preliminary round.

1998 in France

Four years later, the Russians could not for the second World Cup in France qualify . Although they finished second again, this time behind Bulgaria, this did not entitle them to direct qualification, as the Russians in the group with their other opponents Israel , Cyprus and Luxembourg were only fourth best in the group. A 1-1 draw in Cyprus was decisive for second place, which meant that they had one point less than the Bulgarians in the end. In the playoff games of the second to ninth best group runners-up, they met runner-up world champions Italy . After a 1-1 draw at home, they lost 1-0 in Italy and thus missed the finals.

2002 in Japan and South Korea

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Asia , the Russians had to play against Slovenia , the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , Switzerland , the Faroe Islands and again Luxembourg. With seven wins, two draws and only one defeat against Slovenia, the Russians prevailed as group winners and were directly qualified for the finals. The Slovenes managed to prevail against Romania in the playoff games of the group runners-up and to qualify for the finals for the first time.

In Asia, the Russians met Tunisia in their first group game and won 2-0. They then lost 1-0 to hosts Japan , but were in second place ahead of Belgium before the last matchday and would be second in the group with a draw. But since they lost 2: 3, they were eliminated in the preliminary round like eight years earlier.

2006 in Germany

The Russians could not qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany . In a group of seven with Portugal , Slovakia , Estonia , Latvia , Liechtenstein and again Luxembourg, they finished tied with Slovakia, but only third place due to the worse goal difference. The Russians lost only one game, but this one in Portugal with 1: 7. But with five draws they missed too many points.

2010 in South Africa

The Russians could not qualify for the first World Cup in Africa either . This time they ended up in second place behind vice European champions Germany , against whom they lost both games. Finland , Wales , Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein had nothing to do with the decision to win the group. The Russians were the best runners-up in the group, but they also had to make it to the playoffs of the runners-up group. They were drawn to Slovenia and after a 2-1 home game they lost 0-1 in Slovenia, which meant they were eliminated due to the away goals rule .

2014 in Brazil

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Brazil , the Russians were then able to qualify without going through the play-offs. In the group stage, Portugal , Israel , again Azerbaijan, Northern Ireland and again Luxembourg were the opponents. The qualification was only secured on the last day of the match with a 1-1 draw in Azerbaijan. Group runner-up Portugal, who had just one point less, had to go to the playoffs and beat Sweden there.

In Brazil, the Russians faced South Korea in their first game and couldn't get past 1-1. In the second game Belgium were the opponent and until the 88th minute the game remained goalless, then the Belgians managed the 1-0 winner. With a win in the last game against Algeria with a simultaneous draw or defeat of the South Koreans against the Belgians who have already qualified for the round of 16, Russia could still have qualified for the knockout round. Russia also took a 1-0 lead through Alexander Kokorin in the sixth minute and although the Belgians played with one player less in the second half due to a red card , they initially held the 0-0 and were even able to play in the 78th minute to achieve the 1-0 winning goal. At this point, the Algiers had already equalized and the Russians were unable to score another goal. Algeria qualified as second in the group for the round of 16, where they made life difficult for eventual world champions Germany. Russia, however, had again missed the knockout round in third place and must now hope for a better result at the home World Cup in 2018.

2018 in Russia

For the 2018 World Cup, Russia was automatically qualified as host and reached the quarter-finals, in which the team failed on penalties to Croatia . The team didn't have a good preparation. In the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup , which Russia also had to host as World Cup hosts, only the opening game against Oceania champions New Zealand was won. After losing to European champions Portugal and CONCACAF champions Mexico, the Russians were eliminated after the group stage. The first friendly game after that against South Korea was won 4-2 in October 2017, but this was followed by three draws and four defeats before the start of the World Cup. This made the Russians the worst-placed participant in the FIFA world rankings before the start of the World Cup. But they then won the opening game against Saudi Arabia , the second worst World Cup participant in the FIFA world rankings, 5-0. With a 3-1 win against Egypt in the second game, they were already qualified for the round of 16. But they lost the final for the group victory 3-0 against Uruguay . In the round of 16 they met ex-world champions Spain and fell behind in the 11th minute due to an own goal by the record international Ignaschewitsch, but were able to equalize this in the 41st minute with a converted hand penalty. Since both teams then failed to score another goal and overtime did not bring a decision, it came to penalties in which the Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfejew was twice successful, while his Spanish counterpart was denied. In the quarter-finals against Croatia, the Russians took the lead in the 31st minute through Denis Cheryshev's fourth goal , but had to accept the equalizer eight minutes later. It stayed that way until the 90th minute. In the now necessary extra time, the Croatians took the lead, but five minutes before the end of extra time, Mário Fernandes , who was naturalized from Brazil, scored the equalizer, so that there was another penalty shoot-out. Akinfejew was able to save a penalty again, but his opponent also succeeded and since Fernandes shot past the goal while all other shooters were successful, the Russians were eliminated. Croatia then reached the final, again after extra time, but lost it to France.

player

Ranking of the Russian World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Lev Yashin 13 in 3 tournaments

02. Rinat Dassajew , Valentin Ivanov , Albert Schesternjow and Valeri Voronin 9 in 2 and 3 (Dassajew) tournaments respectively

06. Igor Akinfejew , Sergei Ignaschewitsch and Alexander Samedow 8 in 2 tournaments

09. Igor Tschislenko 7 in 2 tournaments

10. Valeri Karpin , Yuri Nikiforow , Sergei Rodionow 6 in 2 tournaments

13. Galimsjan Chussainow , Alan Dsagojew , Artyom Dsjuba , Mário Fernandes , Sergei Gorlukowitsch (3 games for the USSR), Anatoli Ilyin , Vladimir Kessarew , Konstantin Krischewski , Boris Kuznetsov , Ilya Kutepow , Igor Netto , Viktor Onopko , Vladimir Ponomarev , Roman Sobnin , Denis Tscheryschew , Juri Woinow and Viktor Zarjow 5 each in 1 and 2 (Chussainow, Dzagojew, Gorlukowitsch, Netto, Onopko) tournaments

Note: players in italics only played for the USSR at world championships

Ranking of the Russian World Cup players with the most goals

01. Oleg Salenko 6 goals

02. Valentin Ivanov 5 goals

03. Denis Tscheryschew , Igor Tschislenko 4 goals each

05. Artyom Djuba 3 goals

Note: players in italics scored the World Cup goals only for the USSR

World Cup captains

• 1958: Igor Netto (3rd group game)
• 1962: Igor Netto
• 1966, 1970: Albert Schesternjow , Lev Jashin (game for 3rd place 1966)
• 1990: Rinat Dassajew (1st game)
• 1994: Dmitri Charin , Wiktor Onopko (3rd game)
• 2002: Viktor Onopko
• 2014: Vasily Beresuzki
• 2018: Igor Akinfejew

Note: players in italics were captains for the USSR in World Cup matches

Players banned from World Championships

• 1994: Sergei Gorlukowitsch received the red card in the second group game against Sweden and was suspended for the last group game. Dmitri Chlestow and Juri Nikiforow received the second yellow card in the last group game. Since Russia was eliminated, these had no further effect.
• 2002: In the last group game, Dmitri Alenitschew and Andrei Solomatin received the second yellow card . Since Russia was eliminated, this had no further effect.
• 2018: In the last group match, Igor Smolnikow received the yellow-red card and is suspended for the round of 16.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

Legionnaires played a big role in the squad in the first two appearances. In 2014, the Russian team was the only one without legionnaires in the squad, but was trained by a foreigner for the first time.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1994 (3)	12 (3 in Germany, 1 in England, 1 in France, 1 in Portugal, 6 in Spain)	Alexander Borodjuk (3), Sergei Gorlukowitsch (2), Stanislaw Tschertschessow (1); Dmitri Charin (2); Alexander Mostovoi (1), Sergei Juran (1); Dmitri Galiamin (1), Igor Kornejew (1), Dmitri Kuznetsov (2), Dmitri Popow (1), Dmitri Ratschenko (3), Oleg Salenko (3)
2002 (3)	10 (1 France, 1 in Italy, 1 in the Netherlands, 1 in Austria, 1 in Portugal, 4 in Spain, 1 in Ukraine)	Alexei Smertin (2); Ruslan nigmatulline (3); Yuri Nikiforov (3); Stanislav Cherchessov (0); Dmitri Alenichev (2); Dmitri Chochlow (3), Valeri Karpin (3), Alexander Mostowoi (0), Viktor Onopko (3), Alexander Filimonov (0)
2014 (3)	0
2018 (5)	2 (1 in Belgium, 1 in Spain)	Vladimir Gabulov (0), Denis Cheryshev (5)

Games

The Russians have played 14 World Cup games so far. Of these, four were won, six lost and four ended in a draw. The last two had to be extended because a winner had to be found. Both were decided on penalties, one of which was won and one lost.

The Russians took part in the opening game as hosts in 2018 and played against the hosts once: in the preliminary round in 2002.

The Russians lost once (1994) to the eventual world champion.

The Russians never played against the defending champions and never met newcomers to the World Cup.

The most frequent opponents are Belgium, which they lost twice in two games. All other games are unique.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	June 20, 1994	0: 2	Brazil	*	San Francisco ( USA )	Group game
2	June 24, 1994	1: 3	Sweden	*	Detroit ( USA )	Group game
3	June 28, 1994	6: 1	Cameroon	*	San Francisco ( USA )	Group game
4th	0June 5, 2002	2-0	Tunisia	*	Kobe ( JPN )	Group game
5	0June 9, 2002	0: 1	Japan	A.	Yokohama ( JPN )	Group game
6th	June 14, 2002	2: 3	Belgium	*	Shizuoka ( JPN )	Group game
7th	17th June 2014	1: 1	South Korea	*	Cuiabá ( BRA )	Group game
8th	June 22, 2014	0: 1	Belgium	*	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	Group game
9	June 26, 2014	1: 1	Algeria	*	Curitiba ( BRA )	Group game	First game of the Russian team against Algeria
10	June 14, 2018	5-0	Saudi Arabia	H	Moscow	Opening game
11	19th June 2018	3: 1	Egypt	H	St. Petersburg	Group game	First game against Egypt
12	June 25, 2018	0: 3	Uruguay	H	Samara	Group game
13	01st July 2018	1: 1 n.V., 4: 3 i. E.	Spain	H	Moscow	Round of 16
14th	07th July 2018	2: 2 n.V., 3: 4 i. E.	Croatia	H	Sochi	Quarter finals

Highest victories and defeats

The Russian team achieved their highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Egypt : Preliminary round 2018 - 3-1 (only game against Egypt)
•  Cameroon : preliminary round 1994 - 6-1 (only win against Cameroon)
•  Tunisia : Preliminary round 2002 - 2-0 (only game against Tunisia)
•  Saudi Arabia : Preliminary round 2018 - 5-0 (first win against Saudi Arabia)

The Russian team suffered their biggest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Japan : 2002 preliminary round - 1-0 (only defeat to Japan)
•  Uruguay : Preliminary round 2018 - 3-0 (first defeat against Uruguay, highest World Cup defeat)

Records

• Most goals in one game: Oleg Salenko - 5 goals in the game against Cameroon, final result: 6: 1 (1994)
• Highest victory in a tournament: 1994 Russia - Cameroon 6-1 in the preliminary round
• Oleg Salenko is the only top scorer to date who was eliminated with his team after the preliminary round.

particularities

Alexander Jerochin is the first player to appear as the fourth substitute in a World Cup match: on July 1, 2018, he came on in the 97th minute of the round of 16 against Spain. A fourth substitution was possible for the first time in extra time at the 2018 World Cup.

See also

• Russian national soccer team / European championships
• Russian Women's National Football Team / World Championships

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - Russia on fifa.com
• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"

References and footnotes

1. ↑ One of these games won and lost on penalties
2. ↑ In Sweden (1958), Chile (1962), England (1966), Mexico (1971), Spain (1982) and Italy (1990) in the USSR team
3. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2014 (PDF; 200 kB)
4. ↑ Starting with the game, Chief Captain