Russia may be banned from meaningful competitions and pariahs across much of the world over the war in Ukraine, but its national football team is not struggling too much to find willing opponents.

In the last year, Russia faced Syria, Belarus, Brunei, Grenada, Vietnam and Serbia in friendly matches. Iran, Qatar, Cuba and Iraq were among the opposition before that. Russia has won their last seven games in a row, scoring 31 goals and conceding none.

But apart from those with more obvious ties to the Kremlin, several African sides have started to play the 2018 World Cup hosts. An Egyptian under-23 side was the first in September 2023, six months after the ban was imposed. Cameroon also traveled to Moscow, and Kenya played them in Turkey the following month. Nigeria will make the trip to the Russian capital in June, but next to do so is Zambia, on March 25.

"It's just a friendly game. It has nothing to do with the official games," Zambia FA communications director Sydney Mungala told DW. "Basically, this was a football decision from the Zambian perspective."

Mungala said Zambia had been left without a fixture in the March international window. One match was called off after Eritrea withdrew from 2026 World Cup qualifying reportedly over fears players would flee and seek asylum on trips abroad. Another match against the Republic of Congo, were banned by FIFA due to third-party interference in football affairs, was also canceled

"When [Russia] came calling, I think for us, we were looking for an........

© Deutsche Welle