During the draw for qualifying for the 2026 World Cup on December 13, Fifa released, obviously unintentionally, a map of Ukraine without Crimea.
World Football’s governing body has apologized to kyiv.
An error that did not go unnoticed. On December 13, during the draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Fifa released a map excluding Crimea from Ukrainian territory. However, although Russia has been trying to annex it for many years, the peninsula remains the property of Ukraine, according to major international organizations. This incident aroused the anger of kyiv. The spokesperson for the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs had notably called for “public apology”denouncing an act “against international laws, but also in support of Russian propaganda, war crimes and the crime of aggression against Ukraine”.
Faced with this delicate situation, the governing body of world football quickly recognized its blunder and apologized for it. This Thursday, the head of the member associations of the governing body of world football, Elkhan Mammadov, said “sincerely regret any concerns that [cette carte] could have caused” and undertakes to “ensure that such oversights do not occur in the future”. “We fully understand the delicate sensitivity of this matter and, although the incident was unintentional, we sincerely regret any concern it may have caused.”adds the representative in a letter addressed to the Ukrainian Football Federation relayed by The Telegraph. An internal procedure was opened to identify the origins of this malfunction.
As a reminder, on a sporting level, France could cross paths with Ukraine in Group D if it wins against Croatia in the League of Nations (next March 20 and 23).
