Poles found a rival? There will be one match before the play-off final

For a long time, FIFA did not make a decision on the match of Poland in the play-off semi-final, which was to take place on March 24 in Moscow. While it decided that Russia would be suspended due to the invasion of Ukraine, it was not known what to do next: whether Poland would get some other rival or go directly to the final.

In Chorzów or in Glasgow?

And finally it opted for the latter solution:. Importantly, all three teams previously announced that they did not intend to play against Russia – and it was largely this pressure that led to Russia being suspended from FIFA membership.

What about the original date of the Poles in the play-off semi-final? On March 24, Czesław Michniewicz’s team will play a friendly match. Scotland will most likely be the rival of the white and reds. It was with this team that Ukraine was to play in the play-off semi-finals.

However, there is a small problem. Poles and Scotland cannot yet agree on the place of the sparring. Poles want to play in Chorzów and rivals in Glasgow.

– It is very possible that we will play against Scotland. As I wrote five days ago, this is the main candidate to replace Russia on March 24. PZPN has already contacted the Scots, they are also interested in the game. But we want to play in Chorzów, not Glasgow. And talks are underway – wrote Sebastian Staszewski, journalist of “Interia”.

Why has FIFA not assigned a different rival to the Poles?

Theoretically, in the context of replacing Russia, Slovakia (3rd place in the group behind Russia), Hungary (the best team from the League of Nations that did not qualify for the play-offs) or Norway (the best team from 3rd places in the qualifying groups) were mentioned. However, to suspect that FIFA was against such a solution due to too much confusion that such a change would introduce: these teams already have sparring matches scheduled for March, which would have to be canceled and would put their rivals in a difficult position, etc. Due to the lack of sufficient numbers The mini-tournament with the participation of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic was also not considered on the dates.

On the occasion, FIFA agreed with the Ukrainians’ request that their play-off game – originally scheduled for March 24 in Glasgow, Scotland – was moved to June. The second semi-final on this track, Wales – Austria, will be played as planned from the beginning of March 24. As FIFA writes, she did not postpone the date of this match so as not to introduce even more confusion in the “already crowded calendar” – which also explains why the Poles were not assigned a different rival.

This means that the winner of this pair will have to wait two months for the final. It is not known how FIFA will solve the issue of June deadlines: then the European teams are to play four matches in the Nations League, and there must be two more dates (for the Scotland – Ukraine match and the final of this play-off path).

Recall: in el. 12 teams will play M¦ 2022 in the European zone. They have been divided into three paths: two semi-finals will be played in each of them, and the winners will play in the final in a direct match, the stake of which will be a promotion to the 2022 World Cup. The draw is to take place on April 3, which means that we will not know the three finalists yet. – one of them will be the aforementioned team from Europe, and the other two teams are the winners of the intercontinental play-offs (representatives of Asia and South America as well as North and Central America and Oceania will compete in them). The final tournament will be held on November 21 – December 18, 2022 in Qatar.