First Poland, then Sweden and finally the Czech Republic. Nobody wants to play with the Russians – ŠPORT.sk

According to the schedule of the qualifying draw for the World Cup 2022, the Czechs are to first play against the Swedes on March 24. If they succeed, in five days they will compete in a direct battle for promotion to Qatar against the best of the Poland-Russia pair.

However, the situation is rather confusing. As Poles announced a boycott of the match against Russia through their football president Cesar Kulesz on Saturday, both the European Football Union and the International Football Federation must decide how to deal with Russian footballers.

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One of the possibilities is to exclude them from the end of the qualifying struggles, but it is also possible to punish Poland and possibly also one of the Czech-Swedish pair and the Russian default process to Qatar.

The chairman of the FACR, Petr Fusek, announced on Saturday that he could not imagine a football match against football players from the country of the war aggressor. Subsequently, the FACR Executive Committee met, which unanimously supported the opinion of its boss. “The Executive Committee has instructed Petr Fouk and Secretary General Michal Valter to negotiate with UEFA and FIFA in the matter of not embarking on a possible match against Russia,” the FACR said in a statement.

The UEFA Executive Committee ruled on Friday that Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams in those countries could not compete under UEFA’s responsibility until they were recalled at home because they were at war. At the same time, UEFA moved the finals of the prestigious Champions League from St. Petersburg, Russia, to the French capital, Paris.

12 teams in the two-round play-off have to fight for the remaining three places from Europe at the World Championship 2022 in Qatar. In the first round matches, on March 24, in addition to the four countries mentioned, four other pairs are to meet: Portugal – Turkey, Italy – North Macedonia, Scotland – Ukraine and Wales – Austria.

The winners of these six fights will compete for three places in the World Cup in the final. The reigning European champions, the Italians, will face the better of the Portugal-Turkey duel in the event of a victory over the North Macedonians.