Some media outlets reported on social media platforms in the past week that Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, said the Russian Football Team would compete in the 2022 FIFA World Cup despite the ongoing suspension by FIFA.

Putin was reported to have made the statement following FIFA’s decision to suspend the Russian national team indefinitely after the invasion of Ukraine.

CLAIM: That Putin said: “FIFA must not enter into war politics. The national football team of Russia will play in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, or there won’t be any World Cup at all.”

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VERIFICATION: On February 28, 2022, FIFA suspended Russia from international play, excluding their national team from the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

After many days without an official response, the Russian Football Union (RFU) decided on Thursday to appeal the punishment to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

In a press statement released on their website on March 2, the RFU declared that they considered UEFA and FIFA did not have a legal basis for suspending them.

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 “It violated the fundamental rights of the RFU as a member of FIFA and UEFA, including the right to take part in competitions. In addition, the decision to remove the national team from qualifying for the 2022 World Cup was made under pressure from direct rivals in the play-offs, which violated the sports principle and rule of fair play,” the press release read in part.

The union said in a statement that it would submit a single lawsuit against the two governing organisations to demand that the Russian men’s and women’s national teams be permitted to take part, including in qualification for this year’s World Cup in Qatar.

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However, Putin has yet to make a response on the RFU’s suspension from football.

CONCLUSION: Putin has made no statement over FIFA’s ban on the Russian national team. Also, Putin gave no warning that there would be an issue if FIFA excluded the Russian team from the World Cup because of the ongoing suspension.

VERDICT: The statement attributed to Putin that there would be no World Cup if Russia is not one of the 32 teams is nonexistent. He has made no statement on the subject so far.