“A map showing the countries that cannot cross into the tournament was shown on December 13 during the broadcast of the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup European qualifiers”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“FIFA, are you all right? By redrawing international borders on yesterday’s broadcast, you not only violated international law, but also supported Russian propaganda, war crimes and the crime of aggression against Ukraine. We have fixed the map for you and are waiting for a public apology,” Tykhy wrote.
The Ukrainian Football Association also appealed to FIFA. The letter to FIFA Secretary General Matthias Grafström and Theodore Theodoridis General Secretary of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) said such a map was “absolutely unacceptable” and “appears to be an inconsistent position between FIFA and UEFA”.
A map showing the countries that cannot cross into the tournament was shown on December 13 during the broadcast of the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup European qualifiers.
During the draw, the national team of Ukraine got into group D, where its opponents will be the winner of the quarter-finals of the League of Nations (France or Croatia), Iceland and Azerbaijan. Russia has been banned from participating in UEFA and FIFA tournaments since February 2022.