On 28 February 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in accordance with a "recommendation" by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIFA and UEFA suspended the participation of Russia in their competitions.

[citation needed] Led by manager Pavel Sadyrin, Russia were in Group 5 for the qualification campaign for the 1994 FIFA World Cup held in the United States which consisted of Greece, Iceland, Hungary and Luxembourg.

The Russian squad consisted of veterans like goalkeeper Stanislav Cherchesov, Aleksandr Borodyuk and players like Viktor Onopko, Oleg Salenko, Dmitri Cheryshev, Aleksandr Mostovoi, Vladimir Beschastnykh, and Valery Karpin (some of these Russian players could have chosen to play for the Ukraine national football team but the Ukrainian Association of Football had not secured recognition in time to compete in the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification[7]).

During qualifying, Russia overcame Scotland, Greece, Finland, San Marino, and the Faroe Islands to finish in first place with eight wins and two draws.

[citation needed] After Euro 96, Boris Ignatyev was appointed manager for the campaign to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

Oleg Romantsev remained as manager of the national team to supervise their qualification campaign to the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

His task looked difficult as Russia's group consisted of Switzerland, Republic of Ireland, Albania, and Georgia with the Irish considered favourites and an improving Swiss side as an increasing threat.

[12] The final game of the group resulted in a surprising 2–1 victory over eventual champions Greece with Dmitri Kirichenko scoring one of the fastest goals of the tournament.

[13] In the 2006 World Cup qualifying tournament, Russia was drawn into Group 3 with Portugal, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein.

But Russia regained the lead when Andrey Arshavin raced down the left flank and sent across towards substitute Dmitri Torbinski, who tapped the ball into the net.

Arshavin then beat Edwin van der Sar, ending the match 3–1, and sent Russia through to their first major semi-final since the breakup of the USSR.

Russia was drawn to Group 4 in qualification for 2010 FIFA World Cup, competing with Germany, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein.

Miroslav Klose scored the only goal of the game in the 35th minute, sending the Germans to the finals in South Africa and Russia to a play-off.

In their first group match, against South Korea, goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev fumbled a long-range shot from Lee Keun-ho, dropping it over the line to give the Koreans the lead.

In the 60th minute of the game, a laser was shone in Akinfeev's face while he was defending from an Algerian free kick, from which Islam Slimani scored to equalise.

[23] Russia were knocked out of the competition in their final group match which was against Wales (a 3–0 defeat); prior to this they had only collected a single point from a 1–1 draw against England which was followed by a 2–1 loss to Slovakia.

After defeating New Zealand 2–0,[24] Russia disappointed its fans by losing 0–1 to Portugal[25] and 1–2 to Mexico, thus once again crashed out from the group stage of a major FIFA tournament.

[32] On 19 June, Russia won their second game of the group stage, beating Egypt by a scoreline of 3–1,[33] taking their goal difference to +7 with only two matches played.

Russia managed to surprise Spain in one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history; beating them in a penalty shootout after the match ended 1–1 in regular time.

[41] Igor Akinfeev, who saved two penalties including a foot-save to deny Spain's Iago Aspas, was voted as Budweiser Man of the Match.

The win against Spain sent supporters and residents of Russia into wild celebrations, as they reached the quarter-finals for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

[44][45][46] Coach Stanislav Cherchesov reverted to a four-man defense which successfully exploited Croatia offensive set-up which proved vulnerable to Russia's counter-attacking.

[41] Russia scored first (a long-range strike by Denis Cheryshev which was his fourth goal of the tournament and was later nominated for the Puskás Award) and last (a header from Mário Fernandes at the 115th minute) as the match finished 2–2 after extra time, and then were eliminated 3–4 in the penalty shootout.

[71] Still, Dyukov attended the AFC Congress in Manama in February 2023, which increased speculation about Russia's possible move to the AFC as the country was initially invited to compete in the CAFA Nations Cup, held by Central Asian nations that were formerly part of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union (except Kazakhstan), which Russia later chose not to enter.

[72] On 5 April 2023, UEFA president, Aleksander Čeferin, decided to extend the ban, stating it was "very hard" to lift it until the war is over, ensuring Russia's isolation from European football process.

[81] Still, according to Martin Lowe, the AFC has a significant number of members that are sympathetic to Russia, mainly in West and South Asia, as well as China, plus with several Central Asian countries (including Kazakhstan, which is the first UEFA nation to send a national team to play Russia since the invasion of Ukraine after Belarus),[82] which could undermine Australia, Japan and South Korea's efforts due to their limited voices against the wider pro-Russian opinions in the AFC.

[83] In December 2023, the Russian Football Union decided not to apply for the transfer to AFC at the time (the application has to be made six months before the end of UEFA's reporting year in June), as the FIFA ban from official international competitions remained in effect.

In 1997, Nike decided on a simpler design used at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2004, consisting of mainly a white base with blue trim and the opposite combination for the away kit.

After failing to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Nike reintroduced red, this time as the home kit, while white being reversed as the away colour.

The back side of the inside of the shirt had "Together to Victory" (Russian: Вместе к победе, romanized: Vmeste k pobede) slogan printed below the collar.