Sharjah24 - Reuters: Russia should not be allowed to host World Cup qualifiers next month after its invasion of Ukraine, the football associations of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic said on Thursday.
Russia is due to host Poland in the semi-finals of its strand of the World Cup playoffs on March 24 and, if its team advances, is scheduled to host either Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29 in the Path B final.
"The Football Associations of Poland (PZPN), Sweden (SvFF) and Czech Republic (FACR) express their firm position that the playoff matches... should not be played in the territory of the Russian Federation," they said in a joint statement .
"The military escalation that we are observing entails serious consequences and considerably lower safety for our national football teams and official delegations," they added.
The associations said they expected world soccer governing body FIFA and European body UEFA to react immediately and to come up with alternate venues.
FIFA said it would monitor the situation and communicate updates on the qualifiers in due course.
For an optimal experience, please
