Over 30,000 fans expected at Russia-Iran friendly football match in Kazan

KAZAN, October 10. /TASS/. Over 30,000 spectators are expected to attend a friendly football match between the national teams of Russia and Iran in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday night, an official with the Russian Football Union (RFU) told TASS. "We are expecting some 30,000 spectators," Vladimir Karpovich, the director of the RFU Commercial Department, said in an interview with TASS. "We have no final figures yet as tickets are still on sale." "Speaking about Iranian football fans at the match I can say that we have received around 500 ticket requests via the country’s Consulate General’s Office and this is the number we are expecting to see at the game," Karpovich added. Tatarstan Sports Minister Vladimir Leonov said earlier that part of the tickets for the football match at the 45,000-seat capacity Kazan Arena has been distributed on the free-of-charge basis. National teams around the globe are currently in the qualifying stage, battling for a place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, while Russia as the host nation has been already 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. The friendly match against Iran will be second for Russia in four days as the national team, led by Head Coach Stanislav Cherchesov, played another friendly on Saturday night in Moscow against South Korea. The match at the VEB-Arena in the Russian capital on October 7 ended 4-2 in favor of the hosting team. Read more