In The Aftermath Of The Invasion Of Ukraine, Russia Is Threatened With Being Removed From Hosting The World Cup Qualifiers Against Poland, Sweden Or The Czech Republic

Illustration of the Russian national team at Euro 2020 (Twitter @teamrussia)

JAKARTA - Russia should no longer be allowed to host next month's World Cup qualifiers after their invasion of Ukraine, the football associations of Poland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic said on Thursday.

Russia will host Poland in the World Cup playoff semi-finals on March 24 and if they qualify then are scheduled to host Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29 for the Path B final.

"The Polish Football Association (PZPN), Sweden (SvFF), and the Czech Republic (FACR) express their firm position that playoff matches ... must not be played on the territory of the Russian Federation," they said in a joint statement.

"The military escalation we are observing has serious and safety consequences for the national football team and our official delegation," they added.

The association said they expect FIFA and UEFA to react immediately and find alternative venues.

SvFF chairman Karl-Erik Nilsson said earlier that playing a World Cup playoff match in Russia was "almost unthinkable".

OŚWIADCZENIE FEDERACJI PIŁKARSKICH POLSKI, SZWECJI I CZECH. Więcej... https://t.co/fkNXQJIseH pic.twitter.com/Tc9o5POp02

— PZPN (@pzpn_pl) February 24, 2022

"As seen here and now, there is absolutely no desire to play football matches in Russia," he said.

Russia will also be eliminated in this year's Champions League final with UEFA calling for an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee on Friday to move the match away from St Petersburg.