FIFA postpone Scotland’s World Cup qualification play-off against Ukraine

Scotland’s FIFA World Cup play-off semi-final against Ukraine, scheduled for March 24, has been postponed.

FIFA, world football’s governing body, had a call with the chief executives of the Scotland, Ukraine, Wales and Austria Football Associations on Monday where they were verbally told that the game will be moved to June.

Earlier, Ukriane had asked FIFA to postpone their March 24 World Cup play-off match against Scotland.

The play-off semi-final was due to be played at Hampden Park on March 24, with the winner going on to face Austria or Wales in Cardiff for a place in this year’s World Cup in Qatar. But now the clash has been postponed owing to the ongoing military operation of Ukraine by Russia.

Russia was thrown out of the tournament by FIFA as a sanction for their military operation. They had been due to face Poland in their semi-final.

World football’s governing body had earlier released a joint statement with UEFA on Monday announcing Russia’s national teams and its clubs were banned from all competitions.

Earlier, the Russian football federation on Thursday said that it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the decisions by FIFA and UEFA to bar Russian national teams from international competitions over the country’s military operation of Ukraine.

The Russian football federation said in a statement it would file one lawsuit against the two governing bodies to demand that Russian men’s and women’s national teams be allowed to compete, including in qualifying for this year’s World Cup in Qatar.