‘Totally unacceptable’ - Poland calls for tougher action on Russia from FIFA following invasion of Ukraine

The Polish FA says it would be a “shameful act” for the “entire football community” to face a Russian team in the World Cup playoffs, after criticising FIFA for its stance on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Global football’s governing body has decided against a total ban on Russia from international competition, but did not rule that out in future — saying the country was on its “final warning”.

Ad/> Instead, in a similar move to the way the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee has dealt with Russia’s recent doping issues, FIFA has decided the nation will have to compete as the ‘Football Union of Russia’, with no flag and no national anthem at games, with all matches taken away from being hosted there. FootballFIFA falls short on weekend football shows its support – The Warm-Up5 HOURS AGO Poland are due to face Russia in the World Cup playoff semi-finals next month, but its FA says they will refuse to do so.

The potential next opponents, Sweden and Czech Republic, have already said they will take the same approach — leaving that section of the draw in chaos. But FIFA’s move has been widely criticised for not being strong enough, and the president of Poland’s FA is among them.

“Today’s FIFA decision is totally unacceptable. We are not interested in participating in this game of appearances,” said Cezary Kulesza.