MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/: The Russian national football team will play its 2020 UEFA Euro Cup group stage qualifying match against the team from Scotland in October at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the press service of the Russian Football Union (RFU) announced on Monday.
The qualifier between the Russian and Scottish national teams at the 81,000-seat capacity stadium, which hosted matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, is scheduled to kick off at 9:45 p.m. Moscow time on October 10.
The draw on December 2, 2018 in Dublin determined 10 groups for the qualifying stage. The Russian national team was placed in Group I alongside with the teams from Belgium, Kazakhstan, Scotland, Cyprus and San Marino. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the major European football championship.
The Russian squad is currently 2nd in its Group I with nine points after playing four matches - against Belgium on March 21 (losing 1-3), Kazakhstan on March 24 (winning 4-0), San Marino on June 8 (winning 9-0) and Cyprus (1-0). Scotland is currently 4th in the group with six points.
The national football team from Russia is also scheduled to play two more 2020 UEFA Euro Cup qualifiers in September - against Scotland in Glasgow on September 6 and against Kazakhstan on September 9 in Kaliningrad.
The matches of the 2020 Euro Cup will be held at stadiums in 12 different cities across Europe, namely in London (England), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy), Baku (Azerbaijan), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Bucharest (Romania), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), Bilbao (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Glasgow (Scotland) and Copenhagen (Denmark).
Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg was granted the right to host three group stage matches and one of the quarterfinals of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup.
The Luzhniki Stadium
The Luzhniki Stadium was built in the Russian capital more than half a century ago and underwent reconstruction works ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In addition to hosting other fixtures, the stadium was the venue to the opening and final matches of the world football championship last year.
The refurbishment of the Luzhniki Arena began in 2013 as part of the country’s preparations to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup and opened again in November 2017 boasting an almost 81,000-seat capacity ahead of the global football championship.
