Czech football will follow the Polish and Swedish approach. The public would appreciate faster progress!

The barrage for the 2022 World Cup is due to start in less than a month. Czech footballers will face the Swedes in the semi-finals of the barrage, while the Poles and Russians are drawn in the other semi-final basket. But the military invasion and aggression against Ukraine has forced the national teams to take a tough stance. Czech football is acting the slowest, how is the public reacting?

The Poles were the first to speak up twice. They were the first to refuse to travel to Russia for the match and wanted to play the match on neutral ground. But then they made an even tougher decision and were first again. The national team, together with the Polish football management, decided clearly not to play Russia at all and boycott the barrage match.

After a short silence, the Swedes (who would be involved in the match with Russia if they advance over the Czech Republic) also issued the same statement. The FAČR will probably decide on the same scenario in the near future, but the time…

The Czech public is of course calling for the same steps taken by the Poles and Swedes. Some are even attacking the FAČR and its president Petr Fousek relatively harshly.

Meanwhile, the national team’s fan club has organised a poll in which 94% of fans ticked the option to exclude Russia from international competitions. Czech fans also strictly refuse to play a match against Russia if they advance past the Swedes.

The Czech response is likely to be the last straw for FIFA officials. They will then have to figure out how to resolve the situation. There are basically only two options on the table. Either the Russian football team will be eliminated and Poland will be allowed to advance to the final of the barrage, or the Russian footballers will get to the 2022 World Cup without a fight after two controversies.

Public reaction to the slow action of the FAČR

“For once I wouldn’t want to be ashamed of the FAČR, please,” tweeted FC Teplice midfielder Tomas Kucera. He was never afraid to poke the Czech Football Association. In the past, he has also addressed the former management of the association in the lyrics of a rap song.

“The boss of Czech football Petr Fousek is wrong again. This is exactly the situation when procedural steps are completely irrelevant. If football is supposed to be the flagship of Czech sport, then in recent days it is more like a scared barge that has to do something to stay afloat. Shame,” wrote journalist Jan Vacek on Twitter.

“I don’t understand that the district associations in our country are petitioning the FAČR via e-mails not to participate in the matches with Russia. Why doesn’t the federations’ elected executive committee give a clear opinion right away,” wrote FK Baník Most-Souš sports director Jan Skýpala.

Sources: Karel Häring, Tomáš Kučera, Ondřej Nováček, Luděk Mádl, Jan Vacek, Jan Skýpala, Fan Club repre