Trio Of Countries Pen Letter Asking FIFA To Move World Cup Playoffs

International trio Czech Republic, Poland, and Sweden have penned a letter to FIFA saying they do not want to play the World Cup playoffs in Russia next month. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having ripple effects in the sporting world, and has already seen UEFA move the location of the Champions League final. Read more about this here.

And the ramifications of Russia’s actions could expand to the upcoming World Cup.

“Based on the current alarming development in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, including the security situation the Football Associations of Poland (PZPN), Sweden (SvFF) and Czech Republic (FAČR) express their firm position that the playoff matches to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar […] should not be played in the territory of the Russian Federation,” the statement reads.

Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic say they will not travel to Russia for World Cup play-offshttps://t.co/EFgWjkqiVs

— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) February 24, 2022

“The signatories to this appeal do not consider travelling to Russia and playing football matches there.”

“The military escalation that we are observing entails serious consequences and considerably lower safety for our national football teams and official delegations.”

The trio of countries are expecting FIFA and UEFA to ‘react immediately’, finding alternative solutions that allow the playoffs to be held elsewhere.

You can find more celebrity news on our website and iOS & Android application.