Fifa set to suspend Russia from international football – reports

over 3 years in The Irish Times

Fifa is set to suspend Russia’s national teams from international football until further notice due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, a source with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters on Monday.
Fifa is in advanced talks with Uefa over the matter and a decision could be made later on Monday.
European governing body Uefa is due to hold a meeting at 5pm Irish time on Monday to decide on several issues relating to Russian football.
Russia are scheduled to host Poland in a World Cup qualifying playoff on March 24th and if they remained suspended at that time, they would be out of the World Cup.
The Polish FA had said that they will refuse to play against the Russian team.
The suspension would cover all Russian national teams – the women’s team are due to play in Uefa’s Euro 2022 competition in England in July.
Fifa announced a series of “initial measures” on Sunday, including moving the Poland match to a neutral ground. Under those measures, Russia would also be forced to go by the name “Football Union of Russia (RFU)” and no Russian flag would be flown, nor would the anthem be played.
Those proposals were immediately rejected by the Polish football authorities, who at the weekend declared their determination to boycott any fixture with Russia, a sentiment shared by individual players including star striker Robert Lewandowski. The Poles were then joined in a boycott by Sweden and the Czech Republic, one of whom are scheduled to meet the winner of that tie in a playoff final.
The president of the Polish FA, Cezary Kulesza, described Fifa’s initial decision as “unacceptable”.
“In the situation of war in Ukraine, we are not interested in the game of appearances,” he said. “Our position remains unchanged: the national team Polish will NOT play against Russia in the playoff match, regardless of the name of the Russian team.”
The Polish FA also took the step of writing formally to Fifa to reject the measures and call for Russia to be expelled from the World Cup. – Guardian/Reuters

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