The fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, as Poland and Sweden have said they will refuse to play Russia in World Cup qualifying playoff matches.
The FIFA World Cup is the Super Bowl of soccer. Played every four years, it brings the top 32 national teams together in a month-long tournament. The next edition is scheduled for the end of this year in Qatar, moved off its traditional summer months because of the host country’s hot weather in that season. Qualifying matches to become one of the 32 teams are taking place starting next month.
Poland has a scheduled match next month, while Sweden potentially could have faced Russia in its bracket, depending on how earlier games played out.
“No more words, time to act! Due to the escalation of the aggression of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine, the Polish national team does not intend to play the play-off match against Russia,” Polish football association president Cezary Kulesza tweeted early Saturday morning. “We are in talks with (Swedish) and (Czech) federations to bring forward a joint statement to FIFA.”
Polish president Andrzej Duda replied to the tweet, saying: “And rightly so, Mr. President. You don’t play with bandits!”’
Poland was scheduled to play Russia in Moscow on March 24. The winner of that game was set to play the winner of a Sweden-Czech Republic match on March 29 for a spot in the World Cup.
“It is the right decision! I can’t imagine playing a match with the Russian National Team in a situation when armed aggression in Ukraine continues,” sstriker Robert Lewandowski tweeted. “Russian footballers and fans are not responsible for this, but we can’t pretend that nothing is happening.”
