Without waiting for the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), FIFA formalized Tuesday evening in a press release the qualification of Poland in the final of the play-offs for the 2022 Football World Cup as a result of the exclusion of his Russian opponent. Another team present in the play-off, Sweden, strongly criticized the unilateral decision of the body.
By ruling out the scenario of a three-way tournament between Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, or the repechage of another selection for the play-offs, the body indirectly favors the Poles, a choice immediately denounced by the Swedish Football Federation.
“The most reasonable and sportingly fair thing would have been for Poland to have a new opponent in the semi-finals”said Hakan Sjöstrand, the president of the federation. “We understand that this is a difficult puzzle for FIFA to solve, but nevertheless the principle of playing under the same conditions, that is to say playing and winning two competitive matches to reach the final phase of the World Cup, should apply”he lamented.
SvFF kommenterar FIFA:s beslut om hur uteslutningen av Ryssland i playoff till VM ska hanteras. https://t.co/DVMaEb87H3
— Svensk Fotboll (@svenskfotboll) March 8, 2022
Swedish coach Janne Andersson also denounced a decision “completely insane from a sporting point of view”, although he welcomed the exclusion of Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. He pursues : “Having said that, we are fully focused on preparing for the game against the Czech Republic. We want to go to the World Cup and will do everything to get there.”he concluded.
“Following the decision of February 28” suspending Russian teams from all competitions, announce FIFA and UEFA, Poland will therefore face directly “the winner of the Sweden-Czech Republic confrontation”on March 29, indicates the world body.
Decisions taken regarding FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ qualifiers: https://t.co/pZ33iJZsI1 pic.twitter.com/PRwCZE5jJW
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) March 8, 2022
FIFA chose in passing to ignore the appeal filed a few hours earlier by the Russian Federation before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), asking in particular for the suspension of the sanction and therefore the reinstatement of Sbornaïa in the race for the Qatari World Cup.