Poland will not consider defender Maciej Rybus for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after he signed a new contract with a Russian club.
The Polish football federation said on Monday that coach Czeslaw Michniewicz informed Rybus that he will be dropped out of the team for UEFA Nations League games in September, as well as Poland’s ambitions for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, due to his “present club predicament.”
The full-back spent last season at Lokomotiv Moscow and remained with the club following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On June 11, he agreed to a new two-year deal with Spartak Moscow.
Rybus has played 66 times for Poland, most recently in November, and was a member of the squads for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and last year’s European Championship. He has spent practically the whole last decade with various Russian teams, with the exception of a brief stint in France with Lyon, and is married to a Russian woman.
The federation had no comment on two additional national players who had contracts with Russian clubs. FC Krasnodar midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak and Sebastian Szymanski are still protected by contracts made before to the invasion, and Krychowiak was loaned to Greek side AEK Athens following the invasion.
Poland will compete in the 2022 FIFA World Cup group stage against Mexico, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Poland announced that it will refuse to participate in a scheduled 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification playoff against Russia in Moscow. Poland was given a bye into the following round, where it defeated Sweden 2-0 to qualify.
