The match was scheduled for June 15 at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. The information that the meeting will not take place was provided by the “Sport Express” newspaper.
The reason why the Yaoundé government blocked the match is unclear as relations with Russia have been friendly in recent years. France, the former colonial power, began to lose influence in Cameroon.
In April 2022, shortly after the Kremlin invaded Ukraine, Cameroon signed a strategic military deal with Russia that included the sale of weapons and armored cars, as well as intelligence gathering and training.
The two national teams met for the first time only at the 1994 World Championships at the stadium in California’s Stanford. Then Oleg Salenko scored five goals as Russia won 6-1 in the group stage. The only goal for the defeated was scored by legendary striker Roger Milla, who became the oldest goalscorer of the World Cup at the age of 42. Information about the cancellation of the match in Moscow appeared in the same week that Milla celebrated his 71st birthday.
The only other match between the two teams came in 2011, when Austria ended in a goalless 0-0 draw.
-At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Cameroon midfielder Gael Ondoua wore boots with a Russian flag on them. The footballer moved to Russia when his father became a diplomat there. Ondua explained that it was “a sign of respect for the country where I grew up, was shaped and received my football education”. He added: “I’ve been wearing Russian flag boots for many years and I’m not going to break that tradition. Ondua was not punished for this gesture.
After sanctions were imposed on the Russian Federation, its first team played five friendly matches against exotic rivals: Kyrgyzstan (2-1), Tajikistan (0-0), Uzbekistan (0-0), Iran (1-1) and Iraq (2-1) ).
