The Russian Football Union (Russian: Российский Футбольный Союз, Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, including the men's, women's, youth, beach soccer, futsal and Paralympic national teams. The RFS sanctions referees and football tournaments for the Russian Premier League and other football leagues in Russia. RFS is headed by Aleksandr Dyukov, the CEO of Gazprom Neft.
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Russian Football Union in the context of Russia national football team
The Russia national football team (Russian: Сборная России по футболу, romanized: Sbornaya Rossii po futbolu) represents Russia in men's international football. It is controlled by the Russian Football Union (Russian: Российский футбольный союз, Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz), the governing body for football in Russia. Russia's home ground is the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and their head coach is Valery Karpin.
As the Russian Empire before 1917, as the Russian SFSR in 1917–1924 and as the Soviet Union in 1924–1991, Russia first entered the FIFA World Cup in 1958. They have qualified for the tournament 11 times (seven of which as the Soviet Union), with their best result being their fourth-place finish in 1966. As the Soviet Union, Russia was a founding member of UEFA in 1954, winning the first edition of the European Championship in 1960 and were runners-up in 1964, 1972 and 1988. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia's best result was in 2008, when the team finished third.
Russian Football Union in the context of Football in Russia
Association football is the most popular sport in Russia, surpassing ice hockey by a wide margin. Approximately 52% of the Russians are interested in football.
Men's football is overseen by the Russian Football Union, having the Russian Premier League as the first tier of the Russian football league system, with the Russian Football National League being the second tier.