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Amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War, Qatar is proceeding its preparations for this year’s World Cup that will be set in the winter months.
In the recent announcement, FIFA banned Russian football teams from participating in the 2022 Qatar World Cup and other international sports tournaments.
Expulsion of Russia to participate in the World Cup
The decision of the world football authority to eject Russia from the tournament was due to the urging of the International Olympic Community to do the same as they remove Russia from the Winter Olympics. This could also have a significant impact in the football betting world.
As a result, the Russian flag was taken down from the other qualified country’s flags hoisted besides to the official countdown clock of the Qatar World Cup in the visually pleasing Corniche in Doha.
The removal of Russia from the international football competitions prior to the World Cup playoffs is resulting in another case that must be settled in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Following the decision, the Russian soccer federation filed an appeal to hold the ban, however, the players of Poland made an announcement that they will boycott the World Cup qualifiers that are set to be played this month if FIFA sided with Russia.
Impact of the Russia-Ukraine war to the World Cup
Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine, the majority of the world condemned Russia’s actions and they supported Ukraine in the middle of the crisis. As Putin failed to justify his war, a lot of nations issued their sanctions against Russia across industries.
The sporting world also joined the international community in issuing sanctions against Russia and its sporting teams. Initially, the UEFA only stated to the Russian teams that they will be allowing the teams to participate in the competitions only if they will not use the flag, emblem, and national anthem of Russia in their appearances.
However, the stand of UEFA changed when Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic issued a joint statement, appealing to the soccer authority that they are refusing to play against Russia in their upcoming matches.
As a result, the World Cup qualifying semi-final match of Russia and Poland in which it was scheduled to be played at the end of this month was postponed until further notice. Additionally, the winners of the Russia-Poland match were supposed to play against the winners of the Sweden-Czech Republic match, so it is also affected. This will cause the football odds for future bets to be moved in several sportsbooks.
Experts said that the only possible way to resume the matches if the conditions will improve is in June. However, this could also mean that the completion of the European qualification spots will be delayed significantly, on top of the postponements caused by the pandemic.
Final Preparations
In Qatar, the Stadium of Lusail is currently undergoing its last preparations prior to FIFA’s final draw scheduled on April 1. The stadium is highly considered as the biggest sports infrastructure in Qatar, having a seating capacity of accommodating 86,000 fans. Also, Lusail will be the last stadium to be used in the 2022 World Cup, in which it was chosen as the venue for the championship finals.
According to Tamim El-Abed, the project manager of Lusail Stadium in the media tour on march 15, he said “We hope that this stadium will host the final match of the competition, together with the other stadiums that will be used in the event.”
Final Thoughts
The Russian-Ukrainian war has caused political and economic unrest not just in Europe but in the rest of the world. The crisis could potentially create new problems to the world that is currently not yet fully recovered with the global pandemic.
The FIFA World Cup is set to launch on November 21 and the event will end on November 18, the national holiday of the host country. The betting odds for this event will be depending on your chosen casino.