The Czech Football Association said Sunday its national team would not play Russia in a World Cup play-off game despite FIFA’s efforts to make Russia acceptable opponents amid the Ukraine invasion.
“There will be no change in the Czech national team’s standpoint even after FIFA’s decision to let Russia play at the international level but on neutral grounds, without a flag and anthem,” the FA said in a statement.
The Czechs would have to beat Sweden in Stockholm and Russia would have to beat Poland in Moscow on March 24 to set up a clash between the two countries five days later.
The Polish, Swedish, and Czech federations had issued a statement on Thursday — the day the Russian invasion began — demanding FIFA play the matches away from Russia.
Sweden and Poland said they would not play Russia on Saturday and the Czech Republic followed suit on Sunday.
FIFA decided later on Sunday that Russia should play home matches at neutral venues and banned its national flag and anthem from matches as Russian troops kept invading Ukraine for the fourth day.
The plan has already irked Poland whose FA chief Cezary Kulesza labelled it as “totally unacceptable”.
“We are not interested in participating in this game of appearances. Our stance remains intact: Polish National Team will NOT PLAY with Russia, no matter what the name of the team is,” Kulesza tweeted.
Swedish football chiefs on Sunday refused again to face Russia in the 2022 World Cup play-offs despite FIFA ordering the Russians to play home games at a neutral venue.
“We have previously made it known that we do not want to face Russia under these circumstances (following the Russian invasion of Ukraine) and this remains the case until further notice,” said Swedish FA president Karl-Erik Nilsson in a statement.
He added he was “displeased” with FIFA’s decision.
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