English Section

Football: Poland in protest against World Cup playoffs in Russia

25.02.2022 19:30
The football associations of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic have urged FIFA to strip Russia of hosting World Cup playoffs in March, according to an official statement released in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Photo:
Photo:PAP/Grzegorz Michałowski

All three federations have told the world football governing body they cannot imagine their national teams playing matches in Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

The ongoing escalation "considerably lowers safety for our national football teams and official delegations," they said in a joint statement on Thursday.

The associations added they were firmly against the current arrangement.

"We do not consider travelling to Russia and playing matches there," the Polish, Swedish and Czech football federations said in their statement.

The three countries expect FIFA to move the World Cup playoffs from Russia and select a different location for the matches, which are all due to take place in late March, the Reuters news agency reported.

Poland's playoff against Russia is scheduled for March 24 in Moscow.

(pjm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters