MOSCOW, February 26, Alexander Sergeev. The Polish Football Union (PZPN) is not the consequences are important in connection with the refusal to hold a play-off for reaching the final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with the Russian team, PZPN spokesman Jakub Kwiatkowski said. Earlier, PZPN President Cesar Kulesha wrote on Twitter that the Poles did not intend to hold a World Cup play-off -2022 against the Russians. He was supported by many players, including Bayern forward Robert Lewandowski and Krasnodar midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak. The meeting is to be held in Moscow on March 24.
"The consequences are not important for us. The consequences should be felt by someone else, not us. In the face of a tragedy in Ukraine occurring at a time when international football bodies are inactive, the consequences are irrelevant. We made the only right decision", — said Kwiatkowski, answering a question about a possible technical defeat in case of refusal to come to the game with Russia.
On Thursday, the national teams of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic made a joint announcement that they did not intend to play matches qualifications for the 2022 World Cup in Russia due to the aggravation of Russian-Ukrainian relations. On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided on a special military operation of the Russian Federation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to the Russians, he said that the circumstances «require decisive and immediate action from us, the people's republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.» On February 21, Putin signed decrees recognizing the sovereignty of the LPR and the DPR.