Matty Cash and Poland teammates united in stance over Russia boycott

Poland players – including Aston Villa’s Matty Cash – did not need any persuading to back their country’s decision to refuse to play Russia in their World Cup play-off match.

Poland were due to face Russia later this month for the right to face Sweden or Czech Republic, with the winner of the qualifying path earning a place at Qatar 2022.

But following Russia’s brutal invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, Poland vowed to boycott the game, with their stance being back by the Swedes and the Czechs.

Eventually, FIFA and UEFA bowed to pressure and banned Russian teams, the national side and clubs, from all competitions.

But Poland had already made their stance clear.

Jakub Kwiatkowski, Poland’s team manager and media officer, told talkSPORT: “It was the decision of all the players. We didn’t have any doubts or have to persuade anybody [about boycotting the match against Russia].

“We contacted FIFA before [the invasion], and sent a letter, and expressed out deep concern, and asked them for an urgent position on the play-off match. We had no response from FIFA on the letter.

“Then, on the Thursday when the invasion started, circumstances changed dramatically, and we made a statement to FIFA to tell them that we were not going to be playing in Russia.”

Kwiatkowski explained how he and the Polish government worked to help the likes of national team player Tomasz Kedziora, who plays for Dynamo Kyiv, to safety.

Cash displayed a message of support for Kedziora on his T-shirt after scoring for Villa against Brighton at the weekend.

“We have showed support to the Ukrainians, and for us it was the most important thing, especially because one of our players, Tomasz Kedziora, is a player of Dynamo Kyiv,” said Kwiatkowski.

“He was in Kyiv