Sweden, Poland, Czech players refuse to play World Cup play-offs in Russia

Amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Poland, Czech and Sweden football federations have requested FIFA to change the venue for their World Cup play-offs which are scheduled to be played in Russia. Citing 'military escalation' and lower safety as the reason, the 3 federations collectively asked UEFA and FIFA for alternative solutions regarding places where the upcoming matches could be played. The latter has yet not commented on the issue.

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'The signatories to this appeal do not consider travelling to Russia and playing football matches there. The escalation that we are observing in Ukraine entails serious consequences and considerably lower safety for our national football teams and official delegations, the federations said in a joint statement.

While Russia is playing the World Cup qualification play-off against Poland on 24th March in Moscow, Sweden and Czech will face each other on the same day in Solna, Sweden. The winners of the 2 matches will meet each other on 29th March in Russia.