This is a risky career choice. Criticized for having decided to stay in the Russian championship despite the invasion of Ukraine, the Polish international defender, Maciej Rybus, has been excluded from the national selection and from preparations for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, announced the Polish Football Federation (PZPN) on Monday.
Rybus, 32, has just signed with Spartak Moscow after wearing the Lokomotiv Moscow jersey for five years. National team coach Czeslaw Michniewicz told him “that due to his situation at the club, he will not call him up for the national team training camp in September and will not take him into account when the composition of the selection for the World Cup in Qatar,” the PZPN announced in a brief statement.
Rybus, who has 66 caps, is one of the most experienced defenders in the Polish team. Following the military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army on February 24, Poland, a loyal ally of kyiv and one of the main financial supporters, refused to play its semi-final in March. play-off to the World Cup against Russia. International football bodies have since suspended Russia from all international competition.
Poland have been drawn into Group C of the World Cup, along with Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.