The president of the Polish Football Federation, Cezary Kulesza, expressed this Sunday that Poland continues with its intention not to dispute its commitment to Russia for the playoff to the World Cup in Qatar 2022 in protest of the armed conflict they maintain against Ukraine.
Kulesza’s statements came after FIFA announced through an official statement that the match between Poland and Russia will be played on a neutral field next 24 of March.
The federation described FIFA’s decision as “unacceptable” and reiterated that they are not willing to play the match in solidarity with Ukraine, even though Russia cannot play under its flag and anthem.
“Today’s FIFA decision is totally unacceptable . We are not interested in participating in this game of appearances. Our position remains intact: the Polish national team WILL NOT PLAY against Russia, regardless of the name of the team”, he wrote through his personal Twitter account.
A couple of days ago Kulesza had expressed that he was in talks with the federations of Sweden and the Czech Republic to try to boycott the country presided over by Vladimir Putin.
The director’s rejection is only one of several who have commented that sanctions should also be applied to Russia in football. Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich striker and top star of the Polish national team, agreed with the federation’s position on him.
“I cannot imagine playing a match with the Russian national team in a situation where the armed aggression in Ukraine continues. Russian footballers and fans are not responsible, but we cannot pretend that nothing is happening”, he commented.
Similarly, in recent days the French Football Federation demanded that the Russian team be withdrawn from qualifying for Qatar 550 to exercise political pressure.
To date, FIFA’s position remains the same and the highest governing body of football hopes that the next one 24 March, the commitments of the European qualifiers that are still looking for a quota for Qatar 2022 are carried out.