FIFA rejects Russia's World Cup appeal

FIFA denied Russia’s request to lift a ban on its soccer teams ahead of this week’s World Cup qualifiers, further dampening Moscow’s hopes to play in Ghana in 2022.

The international football organization said on Friday that the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the Russian Football Union’s (UEFA) bid for an urgent interim ruling to freeze the ban pending a full appeal, ESPN reported.

The CAS ruling follows a similar refusal to freeze UEFA’s ban on Russian national and club teams in European soccer and means Russia will not be able to play Poland in a World Cup qualifying match on Thursday.

The UEFA will have one more chance to contest FIFA’s decision before the next round of international competition, however, and a Russian victory at CAS could force this month’s playoff games to be replayed.   

Over the past few weeks, Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from competing internationally because of the illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is also in the World Cup playoffs, and its scheduled game on Thursday against Scotland was postponed by FIFA until June. Ukraine or Scotland will advance to face either Wales or Austria — who play in Cardiff next week — with a place at this year’s World Cup in Qatar at stake.