No Russian football player, one of the pieces of straw that broke off from the immensity of the country’s ball wheat, had a say in the decision made by Vladimir Putin three days earlier to send the army to the front who, even other days earlier, had no say in the matter. , parked at various places along the border with the state. They are just human beings who were born in Russia and were the best in their land playing football.
But in a matter of weeks from now, it is likely that no one will be able to compete with the national team jersey to try to put Russia, towards the end of the year, in Qatar, where the 2022 World Cup is taking place – they may not. You have an opponent to face. , because of the three potential adversaries, two already assumed that they did not intend to confront the team of a nation that had militarily invaded another country, in Europe.
The first to do so, the Polish Football Association, confirmed that its national team “will not play for Russia in hem Qualification for the World Cup”. The match was scheduled for March 24, the same day that Portugal will deal with Turkey, but the entity defends that “this was the only right decision.” In a statement, Dukasz Wachowski, president of the Polish Federation, said, Criticize “International organisations” because they “do nothing”, emphasizing: “We are not concerned with the consequences. We do not know what FIFA will do. There is nothing to look forward to, it should have been done.”
So far, international football’s governing body, which is responsible for the upcoming World Cup to be held in Qatar – a country that has come under fire for allegations of human rights abuses and where more than 6,500 migrant workers have died since the tournament was awarded to the country, according to The Guardian – and because the incident The previous one, in 2018, took place in Russia, has not yet commented on this refusal by Poland. I cannot imagine playing against the Russian national team in a situation where armed aggression continues in Ukraine. Russian football players and fans are not responsible for this, but we cannot pretend that nothing happened.” he wroteOn Twitter, Polish captain Robert Lewandowski.
Away from football, Poland welcomed thousands of Ukrainians who headed to the common border between the two countries, fleeing invading Russian forces. Beyond that, Sweden was also in Russia’s crosshairs in terms of verbal threats. On Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Scandinavian country and Finland would suffer “serious military and political repercussions” if they joined NATO.
The Swedish Football Association, this Saturday, with the “unlawful and unfair invasion of Ukraine” justified its decision “not to play a possible match”. hem Against Russia ”, because the draw may dictate: on March 24, the Swedish national team will play the semi-final against the Czech Republic, and if they win and the Russians beat the Poles, then the decisive match will be in Moscow, five days later. ”No matter where. [fosse] The game (…) Russia cannot participate as long as this madness continues, ” defend The entity, claiming it “has difficulty believing that FIFA will not pursue” this request.
On Friday, UEFA decreed that any match involving Russia or the country’s national teams must be played on neutral ground, but the silence of the world football governing body, headed by Gianni Infantino, already the leader of FIFA when organizing the 2018 and 2022 editions were allocated, has been preserved. Figuratively speaking, it is leaning against the wall.
Because the Czech Football Association, even if it did not express in practice the same position adopted by Poland and Sweden, a favour To be ‘very likely’ that it ‘comes next’. The Czechs, in a statement, stressed the “urgency” of an “unprecedented situation” and “unequivocally” condemned the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. They have written that they are awaiting “confirmation from FIFA” and that “there could be many scenarios”, leaving themselves in limbo for those who will wait and see.
Read the Regulation From FIFA for the 2022 World Cup Preliminary Competition, there is nothing in the ‘Disputes’ and ‘Protests’ sections about what to do if a competing team refuses a match in these circumstances, or what actions to take if one or more countries are involved in a dispute armed. Since this issue has long been a brawl, compared to the lives at stake in the Ukraine war, it has ceased to be a mere potential non-attendance.
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