FIFA yet to act on huge Russia match, claims football chief
FIFA is yet to clarify the status of Russia's Qatar 2022 World Cup playoff match against Poland less than three weeks before the game is scheduled to take place, a prominent figure in the Polish Football Association (FA) has claimed.
National team manager and media officer Jakub Kwiatkowski said on Friday that world football's governing body "has still not made a decision" on the semifinal.
FIFA has publicly announced that Russia is suspended from its competitions "until further notice" following the invasion of Ukraine.
The Polish FA previously said it would refuse to play any matches against Russia in a statement that was emphatically backed by national team captain and star striker Robert Lewandowski.
Now Kwiatkowski has said his World Cup hopefuls are still in limbo over the game they are due to play in Moscow on March 24.
"We have not received any correspondence from the international federation on this matter," Kwiatkowski told his Twitter following of almost 70,000 in the latest of a series of posts about Russia and Ukraine. "All the information that appears on this subject in the media is purely speculation."
The winners of the match are due to host the victors of the semifinal between Sweden and the Czech Republic in a final on March 29 to decide who will go to the finals in November and December.
Russia are appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the hope of being able to play the matches, although manager Valeri Karpin has described their predicament as "hopeless".
Sweden and the Czech Republic have also publicly announced that they will not play against Russia.
Kwiatkowski has called his team's protest "no cause for celebration". "We just acted as the situation demanded," he said.
"It is impossible to play football with the team representing the country of the invaders.
"[The FA] with the players threw a domino dice. We thank everyone who showed solidarity. Let's support Ukraine. This is what you need most."
The Russian Football Union has called FIFA's move discriminatory and harmful to everyone involved in the sport.
“Such actions divide the international sports community, which has always adhered to the principles of equality, mutual respect and independence from politics," it added in response to FIFA's announcement.
Kwiatkowski cited FIFA's Human Rights Policy and told it to show that the document is "more than just words on a paper".
He has also said his association is "absorbed in football diplomacy" and promoted aid efforts it is involved in to support Ukraine.
