MOSCOW, February 26, Pavel Levkovich. Member of the Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU) ) Sergei Anokhin explained the refusal of the Polish national team to play with the Russians in the play-offs for the right to play at the World Cup — 2022 by the Poles' fear of the Russians. Earlier, the President of the Polish Football Union, Cesar Kulesha, wrote on Twitter that the Polish national team did not intend to play a play-off against the Russian team 24 March in Moscow. Later, the Swedes also abandoned the potential game with Russia, who in the next stage can go to the Russian team from another semi-final pair. «I believe that Poland was afraid to play with us. This is not a sports principle. Football is out of politics. Everyone is afraid of Russia, even Polish footballers,» Anokhin told reporters. On Thursday, the national teams of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic made a joint announcement that they did not intend to hold qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup in Russia due to the aggravation of Russian-Ukrainian relations.
