Defender Fedor Kudryashov said that the exclusion of the Russian national football team from participating in tournaments under the auspices of FIFA and UEFA influenced his decision to end his career in the national team.

On Tuesday, the Russian Football Union (RFU) confirmed that 35-year-old Kudryashov has completed his performance for the national team.

– I had a dream: to go to Qatar for the World Cup. For me it would be a great ending to a career in the national team. After the tournament in Russia, I wanted to play one more… When Russia started to be excluded from everywhere, doubts appeared. I remember as soon as the Paralympic athletes were banned from competing, I realized: there will be no competitions, no world championships. It turns out that even if my own goal had not happened in Split, Russia would still not have been allowed into Qatar.

As a result, he decided to end his career in the Russian national team. Too bad it didn’t work out the other way. But it’s okay – there are moments more important than football. I’m already 36 years old, you need to be a realist. But I want to continue playing football as long as possible! Desires – the sea! God forbid, in addition to this season, I will spend another two or three years. And there, maybe I’ll make it to 40.

I will never forget the emotions that I experienced when I entered the field in the jersey of the national team. I am grateful to all those with whom I played and worked in the national team all these years. Separately, I want to say thanks to our fans: they gave us extra strength and created an unforgettable atmosphere in the stands, ”says Kudryashov in an open letter published on the RFU website.

Kudryashov scored an own goal in the decisive match of the 2022 World Cup qualifying tournament against the Croats (0: 1), as a result of which the Russian team lost the chance to win a direct ticket to the tournament.

– Selection for the World Cup turned out to be very difficult for us. Both Slovenia and Slovakia to the last claimed a place in the deuce, but in the end everything was decided in the last match between us and the Croats.

In that meeting, we only defended, practically did not attack. They understood that it was impossible, but they could not do anything about it. But in the end, they could have reached the desired result, if not for my own goal … A few seconds before the fatal episode, I felt a spasm in my muscles. I ran to finish the episode, as the match continued. After the game, I squandered the moment in my head and thought that perhaps I should have fallen and asked the referee to stop the match. But what if I fell and the Croats scored from my area? I wouldn’t forgive myself for that. It’s in my nature to play to the end. Yes, it was possible to concede the ball, to play differently, but it turned out the way it did.

After the match, my partners and the coach supported me. I was very worried: I felt that I let the team and the country down. But then I realized that nothing would change if I started killing myself and blaming everything. The situation has happened, you can’t change anything, ”Kudryashov noted.

Kudryashov was first called up to the national team in 2016 and has since made 48 appearances. He played at the Confederations Cup 2017, the World Cup 2018. He scored the only goal for the team against San Marino in the qualifying tournament for EURO 2020.