War Russia-Ukraine: can the Qatar 2022 World Cup be canceled?

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine could lead FIFA to make certain decisions regarding the World Cup to be held in Qatar at the end of 2022.

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Like other competitions in the sporting world, the Qatar World Cup has many aspects in which this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is directly involved, but the main one is soccer.

Both the Russian and Ukrainian national teams have to play in the UEFA playoff for the last three European tickets to the World Cup. The Ukrainians have to visit Scotland in the A bracket, while the Russians will host Poland in the B bracket. Both keys are scheduled to be played on March 24 in a single match.

Almost as a twist of fate, these teams will not meet in the first round of the playoffs and will not meet in the second round either, but Poland has already asked UEFA to change the venue so as not to step on Russian soil in the middle of the war.

The background for FIFA

In the event that the war escalates to a continental or global level, the historical record is not in FIFA's favor. When the 1938 World Cup was held in France, no one thought it would be the last until 1950. 

In 1939, the Nazi army broke out the Second World War, the only event in history that prevented the World Cup from being held. Due to the greatest war conflict in history, FIFA was unable to organize the 1942 and 1946 World Cups and would resume the World Cup activity until 1950, with Brazil as the host country.

What did Gianni Infantino say?

Gianni Infantino, FIFA president, assured on Thursday that his organization is closely following the war in Ukraine.

"The situation that we all discovered this morning is obviously very tragic and very worrying. We have a duty to analyze this matter with caution. The first match will take place a month from now and we hope that this whole situation will be resolved well before the match. As soon as possible. We fervently believe in it. We have a body that can make decisions at any time. We will make decisions when it is appropriate," he said.

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