Russia national beach soccer team
 |
|
| Association | Russian Football Union |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) |
| Head coach | Mikhail Likhachev |
| Captain | Ilya Leonov |
| Most caps | Yuri Krasheninnikov (119) |
| Top scorer | Dmitry Shishin (100) |
| FIFA code | RUS |
| BSWW ranking | 2 |
| First international | |
 Italy 5–1 Russia  (Rio-de-Janeiro, Brazil; 30 January 1996) |
|
| Biggest win | |
Russia 11–1 Romania  (Den Haag, Netherlands; 23 July 2010) |
|
| Biggest defeat | |
 Brazil 7–0 Russia (Dubai, UAE; 4 November 2016) |
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The Russia national beach soccer team (Russian: Сборная России по пляжному футболу, Sbornaya Rossii po plyazhnomu futbolu) represents Russia in international beach soccer competitions and is controlled by the Russian Football Union, the governing body for football in Russia.
Team Russia debuted at the 1996 Beach Soccer World Championship, with a squad including Vagiz Khidiyatullin, Vyacheslav Chanov and Andrei Yakubik. In their first match against Italy, Team Russia lost 1–5; this became one of their biggest losses to date. Notwithstanding the overall fifth place at the Championships, beach soccer was not supported by the government for the next 10 years. In 2005, Nikolai Pisarev and other prominent sportsmen suggested Sport's Minister Vitaly Mutko reviving the Russian national beach soccer team. Mutko supported the idea and in the same year Russia participated at the Euro Beach Soccer Cup, sending Mostovoi, Karpin, Nikiforov, Lediakhov, Kiriakov and Popov. Furthermore, one Brazilian consulted the team.
In the following years, team Russia progressed quickly. In 2007, many of the still playing football players, such as Alexey Makarov, Anton Shkarin and Andrey Bukhlitskiy, debuted. That year Russia was bronze medalist at the Euro Beach Soccer Cup. At the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, team Russia became ninth, and in the following year already sixth. By winning the 2010 Euro Beach Soccer Cup, Russia qualified for the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup and won the trophy by defeating Brazil, 12–8. Since 2010, the head coach is Mikhail Likhachev.
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