Cezary Kulesza made the announcement on Twitter and
indicated Poland was in talks with other federations to present a unified
position to FIFA, which is responsible for the March 24 game in Moscow.
“No more words, time to act!” Kulesza wrote, saying the move
was prompted by the “escalation of the aggression.”
Poland striker Robert Lewandowski, the nation’s all-time
leading scorer and winner of FIFA’s best-player award for the past two years,
immediately responded to say it’s the “right decision!”
“I can’t imagine playing a match with the Russian National
Team in a situation when armed aggression in Ukraine continues,” the Bayern
Munich star said on Twitter. “Russian footballers and fans are not responsible
for this, but we can’t pretend that nothing is happening.”
FIFA has yet to take a clear position on Russia hosting or
even playing against Poland.
European soccer body UEFA said Friday that in its
competitions all Russian and Ukrainian teams must now move their home games to
play in other countries.
A potential precedent for action is from 1992. Both FIFA and
UEFA removed Yugoslavia from their competitions following sanctions imposed by
the United Nations at the outbreak of war there.
Previously, Poland had only said it did not want to play the
qualifying playoff semifinal in Moscow.
The winner is due to host Sweden or the Czech Republic on
March 29 for a place at the World Cup being played in Qatar from Nov. 21-Dec.
18.
The head of Sweden’s federation, Karl-Erik Nilsson, is also
first vice president at UEFA which has stripped Russia of hosting the Champions
League final in St. Petersburg in May. UEFA decided Friday to move that game to
Paris.
Russian troops pressed toward Ukraine’s capital Saturday,
after a night of explosions and street fighting that sent Kyiv residents
seeking shelter underground.
It was not immediately clear how far Russian troops had
advanced. Ukrainian officials reported some success in fending off assaults,
but fighting persisted near the capital. -AP
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