After the suspension of Russia, what could happen?

The Russian team was scheduled to face Poland in one of the six play-off matches on March 24. Following this decision, adopted by the FIFA Council Bureau and the UEFA Executive Committee in view of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on March 24, the team coached by Valeri Karpin will be eliminated from the World Cup.

In view of this situation, FIFA will have to define what will happen with one of the three remaining keys. Sweden and Czech Republic are the other participants, in addition to Poland.

The options range from direct qualification of the Poles to the final against the Swedes or Czechs for a place in Qatar to the inclusion of a new team that would play against Robert Lewandowski’s team.

The possible “guests” are Slovakia, which finished third in Russia’s group; Norway, the best third-placed team in the group stage; or Hungary, the best-placed team in the FIFA ranking of those already eliminated, which also won its UEFA Nations League zone.

The decision should be made in the next few days, as there are less than four weeks to go before the playoff matches.