Russia’s request to freeze a FIFA ban on its football teams ahead of next week’s World Cup qualifying playoffs was dismissed on Friday.
FIFA said the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the Russian soccer federation’s bid for an urgent interim ruling to freeze the ban pending a full appeal.
The CAS decision means Russia will not be able to play Poland in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.
The ruling follows a similar CAS refusal on Tuesday to freeze UEFA’s ban on Russian national and club teams in European football.
Russian athletes have been banned from competing in multiple sports because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Belarusian athletes have also been banned because their country has been an ally of Russia.
FIFA initially stopped short of an outright ban on Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, and on February 27 said a Russian team could compete on neutral territory as the ‘Football Union of Russia’.
But this proposal was again rejected by the three national associations and the following day FIFA and UEFA jointly announced the suspension of Russia from their competitions.
