Zurich (dpa) – The football associations from Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic announced their refusal to host the World Cup playoffs in Russia at the end of March.
“The signatories of this appeal are not considering traveling to Russia and playing football games there,” reads a letter to FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura, which the Polish association published on Twitter. The “military escalation” has serious implications for the security of the teams and supervisors. FIFA initially drew no conclusions on Thursday.
In the European playoffs for the World Cup finals in Qatar (November 21 to December 18), three tickets will be awarded at the end of March. In a semi-final path, Poland are scheduled to play in Russia on March 24. If the Russians made it to the final, their opponents would be Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29th. Ukraine will play in Scotland in their semifinals on March 24th.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in the evening after a council meeting of the world governing body: “We are in contact with the associations that still have to play these qualifiers. With the Russian association and the others. We are analyzing the situation. In At the moment we are continuing to monitor the situation.” The Council Bureau, FIFA’s advisory committee, will address the issue “and will make decisions as soon as necessary”.
However, the three associations had previously asked FIFA and the European Football Union UEFA to “react immediately” and propose alternatives for the games on Russian soil. On Friday, the UEFA Executive Committee will discuss the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but FIFA is responsible for World Cup qualifiers.