Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic do not want to play the World Cup playoffs in Russia

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Poland's star striker Robert Lewandowski

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MATEUSZ SLODKOWSKI / CYFRASPORT / imago images/Newspix

The football associations from Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic have announced their refusal to host the World Cup playoffs in Russia at the end of March because of the Russian attacks on Ukraine.

"The signers of this appeal are not considering traveling to Russia and playing football games there," says a letter to the Secretary General of the world association Fifa, Fatma Samoura, which the Polish association published on Twitter on Thursday.

The "military escalation" has serious implications for the safety of the teams and supervisors.

In the European playoffs for the World Cup finals in Qatar (November 21 to December 18), three tickets will be awarded at the end of March.

In a semi-final path, Poland are scheduled to play in Russia on March 24.

If the Russians made it to the final, their opponents would be Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29th.

Ukraine will play in Scotland in their semifinals on March 24th.

The three associations called on Fifa and the European football union Uefa to "react immediately" and propose alternatives for the games on Russian soil.

The Fifa Council meets this Thursday, on Friday the Uefa Executive Committee will advise on the consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

aha/dpa