Indian women to play two friendlies against Russia in October
In its last international fixture in June, India won the SAFF Women’s Championship. | Photo Credit: AIFF
In its last international fixture in June, India won the SAFF Women’s Championship. | Photo Credit: AIFF
The Indian women’s national team will face Russia in two international friendlies at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan here on October 8 and 11 during the FIFA women’s international match window.
The fixtures will be India’s first international matches since it won the SAFF Women’s Championship for a record sixth time in June.
Ranked 69th in the world, India will use the October window to test itself against strong European opposition, ranked 27th.
Russia has been excluded from FIFA and UEFA competitions since the full military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia’s exclusion from international football was imposed after multiple European federations said their teams would not play against Russian opponents.
But it will be making a partial return to international competition after it was invited to play in the boys’ U-15 World Cup festival.
In its recent fixtures in June, Russia beat China over two friendlies.
The matches will be the third and fourth meetings between both India and Russia. Their previous encounters came in international friendly tournaments on neutral ground with India suffering an 8-0 defeat at the Turkish Women’s Cup in 2021 before losing 2-0 at the Pink Ladies Cup in the UAE in 2025.
Published on Sep 27, 2026
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