Euro 2008 Qualifying:
Guus Hiddink's maiden campaign as coach could hardly have had a more dramatic ending as Russia snatched second place in Group E at the death. After opening with home draws against Croatia and Israel, Russia won five of their next six games. Aleksandr Kerzhakov struck a hat-trick in a 4-0 home victory against Andorra and the only game of that sequence they did not win was a goalless draw in Croatia. Russia played back-to-back games against England in autumn 2007, losing 3-0 at Wembley but then staging a dramatic recovery in Moscow, where substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko scored twice in five second-half minutes – the first a penalty – to cancel out Wayne Rooney's opener. That result left Russia second in the section, needing six points from their final games in Israel and Andorra to be sure of qualifying. Hiddink said it was "simply impossible" to lose in Israel, against opponents already out of the running, but lose they did, their 2-1 defeat putting England back in pole position to qualify. However, the drama continued on the final day, with England unexpectedly losing 3-2 at home against group winners Croatia, allowing a ten-man Russia to seal their progress with a 1-0 win in Andorra, earned by Dmitri Sychev's goal.

Best Euro Championship:
Russia's best performance since competing as an independent state came at UEFA EURO 2004 although their best qualification round came in the run up to EURO ‘96. From ten matches, Russia collected 26 points to claim first position from a group featuring Finland, Greece, Scotland, the Faroe Islands and San Marino. Their involvement in the UEFA EURO '96 was less memorable with one point from three games, a 3-3 draw against the Czech Republic after earlier losing their opening two games to Italy (2-1) and Germany (3-0).