The General Secretaries of the federations of the three countries have issued a joint statement showing their refusal to play in the European play-off in Russia for a place in the next edition of the World Cup.
Lukasz Wachowski, Hakan Siostrand and Michal Valtr, holders of the aforementioned position in the Polish, Swedish and Czech federations, respectively, have addressed their counterpart at FIFA, Fatma Samoura, in the following joint statement:
“Based on the current and alarming development of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, including the security situation of the Football Associations of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic express their firm position that the play-off matches to qualify for the Cup of the The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, scheduled for March 24-29, 2022, should not be played on the territory of the Russian Federation.
The signatories of this appeal do not consider traveling to Russia and playing football matches there. The military escalation that we are seeing implies serious consequences and considerably lower security for our national teams and official delegations.
Therefore, we expect FIFA and UEFA to react immediately and present alternative solutions considering venues where these matches may be played.”
Russia and Poland are scheduled to play on March 24 at the VTB Arena in Moscow, while Sweden and the Czech Republic will play at the Friends Arena in Solna. The winner of the first round will act as host, repeating the aforementioned scenario or being the Stadion Slaski in Krakow in case the Poles reach the next round.
The format of final four means that, in case the Russians prevail in the first semi-final, there could be two clashes in a country that is currently at war after the recent offensives in Ukraine. The same does not happen with Scotland, Wales and Austria, framed with a Ukrainian team that will play as a visitor in the semifinal and in a hypothetical final.
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