Ukraine war: CAS rejects Russia's appeal over World Cup 2022 ban

Russia's request to freeze a FIFA ban on its soccer teams ahead of next week's World Cup qualifying playoffs was dismissed on Friday.

Amidst the Ukraine war, Russia's request to freeze a FIFA ban on its football teams ahead of next week's Qatar World Cup 2022 qualifying playoffs was dismissed on Friday.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the suspension, which bans Russian national teams or clubs from any FIFA competition until further notice.

Football's world governing body, FIFA, had suspended the Russian federation from its competitions over the country's invasion of Ukraine at the end of February.

The CAS decision means Russia will not be able to play Poland in World Cup qualifying on Thursday and almost certainly means Russia cannot feature at the World Cup in Qatar later this year.

They had been in a four-team playoff path also featuring Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, with the semi-finals and final being played later this month.

Poland has been granted a bye to the final, where they will face either Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29. 

The ruling follows a similar CAS refusal on Tuesday to freeze UEFA's ban on Russian national and club teams in European soccer. 

Russian athletes have been banned from competing in multiple sports because of the country's invasion of Ukraine.