Russia remain banned from the 2022 World Cup after appeal is delayed
- Planet Sport writer
- 18 March 2022
FIFA announced that Russia will be removed from the 2022 World Cup after their invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Football Union appealed the decision and asked for any suspensions to be held until an official decision had been made by the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport).
However, on Friday morning, the CAS released that the hearing is yet to take place, putting Russia's participation in the 2022 World Cup into doubt.
Russia were still in the process of qualifying for the World Cup finals, and were in a four-team play-off path alongside Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
Those play-off matches were scheduled to take place later this month, but the upheld sanctions mean that the play-off group has had to be changed.
Instead, Poland, who had originally been due to play Russia in a play-off semi-final, have been granted a bye to the final where they will face either Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29.
FIFA announce Poland will receive a bye to the World Cup qualifying final for path B and will face the winners of the match between Sweden and Czech Republic.
— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 8, 2022
Poland were originally scheduled to face Russia in March pic.twitter.com/bhNOhMXXN4
Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic sent a joint letter addressed to FIFA towards the end of February stating they would refuse to play Russia in the play-offs.
That letter was then greeted by FIFA stating that Russia must perform under a neutral flag, but the three associations also rejected that, leading to the current sanctions in place.
The CAS released a statement confirming the suspension: "The CAS arbitration proceedings continue. A panel of arbitrators is currently being constituted and the parties are exchanging written submissions. No hearing has been fixed yet."
A similar appeal was heard by the CAS earlier this week regarding sanctions imposed by UEFA, that stopped all Russian football clubs from competing in their competitions.
That appeal has been concluded, with CAS upholding the original decision. The result means Russian side Spartak Moscow can play no further part in the Europa League.
