After Poland, now the Swedish Federation have announced they will not play against Russia in any venue for the World Cup play-offs following the invasion of Ukraine.
The pressure is ratcheting up on UEFA and FIFA to exclude Russia from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
So far, their only action has been to remove the Champions League Final from St Petersburg, handing it to Paris, and ordering all Russian sides to play on neutral turf.
Szczesny ‘refuses to play’ against Russia, ‘My conscience will not let me play’
However, the Polish squad announced it would refuse to play against Russia in any venue and now the Swedish Federation has done the same.
“The men’s national team will not play against Russia – regardless of where the match is played. The Federal board also urges FIFA to cancel the play-off matches in which Russia were meant to participate in March.”
Swedish Football Association chairman Karl-Erik Nilsson warned Russia could not take part in football “as long as this madness continues.”
Russia were meant to play Poland in Moscow on March 24, with Sweden or the Czech Republic facing the winning side again in Moscow on March 29.
SvFF´s besked: Herrlandslaget kommer inte att spela mot Ryssland – oavsett var matchen spelas.
Förbundsstyrelsen uppmanar samtidigt FIFA att ställa in de play off-matcher i mars där Ryssland deltar.
— Svensk Fotboll (@svenskfotboll) February 26, 2022
Bravo Sweden
Very good Poland and Sweden.
Bravo. Russia should be banned from any competition for at least 10 years.
Drop Russia and bring Turkey into that group, since they were next highest in qualifying from the 2nd Round.
Drop Russia, invite the next highest ranked team for a chance to qualify, Greece I believe. Have a redraw. Pot 1 Italy, Portugal and Sweden. Drawing from Pot 1, one team for each path. Here’s your chance UEFA to fix what you got wrong! The rest of the teams can be in pots 2,3 and 4. Separate the top teams so they can’t meet. Let them meet at the World Cup knock out stage!
FIFA will do no such thing they are greedy cowards