Mud was in the air at a swamp football competition in a Russian forest over the weekend, around 60 kilometres from St Petersburg.

Halves in this clearly exhausting form of football last only 13 minutes.

In the final, local team POGI beat Spb Lakes by a goal to nil, meaning they will represent Russia at the next World Cup in Finland.

There are currently an estimated 300 swamp football teams around the world.