On Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 amidst the shutdown of domestic / international football during the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, FIFA has announced that they are in agreement with Ukraine’s request to postpone the nation of Ukraine’s World Cup qualifying playoff which was originally scheduled to be held in Scotland in 2 – weeks’ time from now.
FIFA has also publicly announced as well as ultimately decided to award Poland a bye through their playoff semifinal match versus Russia that was also concurrently scheduled on Thursday, March 24th, 2022. That conclusion will very much be contested by an urgent Russian appeal process directed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against a FIFA ban on its national teams.
FIFA stated that it will now organize the Scotland – Ukraine match in June of 2022 during the next fixture dates that are protected for national clubs.
The delay became very probable as the Ukraine Premier League shut down all football activities following the Russian military violently invaded Ukraine on Thursday, February 24th, 2022.
Ukraine found refuge in, “The impossibility of organizing both the travel and training of a team under the current circumstances,” which FIFA explained in a recently released statement.
Most of the team from Ukraine is classically drawn from the domestic clubs of the Dynamo Kyiv as well as the Shakhtar Donetsk. Ukraine was incapable of resuming football matches on Saturday, February 26th, 2022 following a mid – winter cessation, and most of their men that played for these clubs from other countries were forced to leave Ukraine in order to decisively escape the war between Russia and the Ukraine.
This most recent FIFA postponement of games creates more upcoming anticipated uncertainty to the 2022 World Cup finals tournament draw which was scheduled to begin on Friday, April 1st, 2022 in the host nation of Qatar.
It was going to already be in front with 2 of the 32 – admissions undecided due to a loaded accumulation throughout the COVID – 19 pandemic era. An inter – continental playoff round was inevitably moved back to June of 2022 already.
The draw for Doha is expected to now possess just 29 – calculated football squads with the playoff bracket featuring Scotland, Ukraine, Wales, as well as Austria now held – up too.
Ukraine was all set to face off against Scotland via a 1 – game playoff semifinal to be played in Glasgow, and the victor of that match was supposed to match – up at Wales or Austria just 5 – days later for a ticket to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. The Wales vs. Austria contest is presently scheduled and ready to go ahead for Thursday, March 24th, 2022.
The national teams of Europe are established to return to regular game play following the 2021 – 2022 club season conclusions finishing up at the Champions League final on Saturday, May 28th, 2022. Ukraine’s Oleksandr Zinchenko could be involved in that game with Manchester City.
Thursday, June 2nd, 2022 looks like the next best option for a Scotland vs. Ukraine playoff on a day when multiple countries will start their UEFA Nations League groups.
Ukraine as well as Scotland have begun to be drawn together in a 2nd – tier Nations League group, and they were due to play each other in Glasgow on Tuesday, June 7th, 2022. The date of this scheduling could be a necessity for the playoff bracket final versus either Austria or Wales as of now.
Russia’s war on Ukraine has started up so much shit that I would not be surprised if the 2022 World Cup set to be played in Qatar this summer to be either postponed or cancelled altogether depending upon how things shake out in the far Eastern hemisphere over the upcoming several months.
FIFA and UEFA imposed a ban / boycott a week ago that excluded all Russian – teams from all of their international competitions no matter what.
The Russia – Poland playoff was a portion of a playoff bracket that included Sweden as well as the Czech Republic. The other 3 – football federations have also strongly declined to play Russia too.
The Russian Football Union’s (RFU) appeals have been established as early as Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 by the CAS. Russia is looking to put a freeze on the punishments in an effort to allow the Russian national team to compete, but that will most likely not happen as of the current conditions.
Sources:
Dunbar, Graham. “FIFA postpones Ukraine playoff, gives Poland a bye vs Russia”. The Associated Press. March 8, 2022.