Sweden afraid that Russia’s World Cup ban will give Poland advantage

PARIS: Sweden expressed concern on Wednesday that its team would be at a disadvantage after FIFA announced that Russia would be barred from the 2022 World Cup playoffs due to their invasion of Ukraine.

Poland, who will meet Russia in a playoff semi-final later this month, will be handed a bye into one of the European playoff finals, the sport’s governing body announced Tuesday.

For a spot in the finals in Qatar, Poland will face the winner of the match between Sweden and the Czech Republic.

The playoff final will be held on March 29, five days after the Swedes and Czechs face-off, potentially providing the Poles with an advantage due to their rest.

Hakan Sjostrand, the head of the Swedish football federation, said he would have liked FIFA to find a new opponent for Poland instead of Russia.

“The most reasonable and fair thing, on a sporting level, would have been that Poland have a new opponent in the semi-final,” Sjostrand said.

“We understand that it is a difficult situation to resolve for FIFA but nevertheless the principle of playing in the same conditions, in other words playing two competitive matches to reach the final phase of the World Cup, should apply.”

Janne Andersson, Sweden’s coach, believes FIFA made the correct decision by excluding Russia from the playoffs.

However, he referred to the decision to award Poland free passage to the final as “completely mad from a sporting point of view”.

“Having said that, we will focus entirely on the preparation for the match against the Czech Republic. We want to go to the World Cup and we will do everything to achieve that.”

Following a request from the Ukrainian federation, FIFA confirmed that Ukraine’s playoff match against Scotland would be suspended until June.

Russia, which hosted the 2018 World Cup, filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday, challenging FIFA and UEFA’s suspension of the country from all international tournaments “until further notice.”

From November 21 through December 18, the 2022 World Cup finals will be held.

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