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| Everton's Vitaliy Mykolenko from Ukraine, wearing the Ukrainian flag on his t-shirt, warms-up before the English FA Cup 5th round soccer match between Everton and Boreham Wood at Goodison Park in Liverpool, England, Thursday, March 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Jon Super) |
“FIFA can confirm it has received a request from the
Ukrainian Association of Football today to postpone their matches scheduled for
March,” world soccer’s governing body said.
Ukraine is set to play Scotland in Glasgow on March 24, with
the winner then taking on either Wales or Austria five days later for a place
at this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
A large part of Ukraine’s team is typically made up of
players playing for domestic clubs such as Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk.
They have been disrupted by the national league stopping last week and many
players who are not from Ukraine left the country to seek safety.
FIFA said it was in talks with Scottish officials and
European soccer body UEFA “to find an appropriate solution. FIFA expresses its
deepest solidarity to everybody affected by what is happening in Ukraine.”
One option would be to postpone the games in the four-team
playoff bracket until the next national-team match dates in June. The global
World Cup qualifying program has already seen several delays because of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The draw for the tournament is scheduled for April 1 in
Doha, but at least two of the 32 entries will not be known by that date.
The final two places are set to be decided in June when four
teams – from Asia, North and South America, and Oceania – go to Qatar for the
intercontinental playoffs.
Ukraine has qualified for the World Cup only once since
becoming an independent soccer nation 30 years ago, reaching the quarterfinals
in 2006. Ukraine also reached the quarterfinals at the European Championship
last year.
Russia was also set to take part in the World Cup playoffs
and is challenging a FIFA decision to suspend the country from international
soccer. -AP
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